STORY EXCERPT

Nathan’s lion pride didn’t have the money or the land to be in command of any wolf packs the way some of the other prides did, but from his understanding, most alpha lions would only ever shake hands with an alpha wolf who lived on their lands, and that was symbolic.

Since most alpha lions considered themselves to be on a whole other level compared to the wolves they ruled over, no alpha lion was actually supposed to shake the hand of a beta male, regardless of who they were mated to.

Or maybe Nathan’s pride had just been full of shit?

Cerberus looked to Nathan and held out his hand as well.

Nathan felt a little numb as he reached out and clasped Cerberus’s hand.

Focus. He was still making that good impression he wanted.

Cerberus’s grip was more powerful. Obviously. The guy’s bicep looked like it could crack steel, but Nathan gripped back as hard as he could, still wanting to show that he could stand on his own two feet, and that he wasn’t going to be a hinderance to Zane getting his work done with this male.

“Would it be all right if I introduced my mate to you?” Cerberus asked, and it seemed as though he was asking the three of them.

Really? He could just do it. It wasn’t up to them.

“Of course,” Zane said, nodding and playing along with the idea that he had a choice here. “It’s Basil, right?”

“Yes, he and Watson are still catching up with William, I believe. I’m glad he was able to retire and leave the pack to you. You seem capable. I’ll be keeping an eye on you.”

“Of course.”

“Would you mind it if I spoke to William privately? I’d like to catch up on a couple of things, and I think your mates might need you a little more.”

“Absolutely. I’ll see you at the feast.”

Cerberus nodded to Nathan and Marcus one more time before walking off.

Nathan watched him go. He watched the way the werewolves, and even some of the lion shifters from his own pack, stepped out of his way.

Like he was parting the Red Sea.

The lions had been here for a little while, but the more he saw them, the more he learned about them.

At least, the more he learned he didn’t know about them.

Nathan didn’t understand. He looked up at Zane. “He’s…not what I was expecting.”

“Me neither,” Marcus said.

Zane looked at both of them. “What were you expecting?”

Nathan’s first instinct was to say nothing, to keep it to himself, but why not be honest? Just mentioning this didn’t mean he was stirring up drama.

He hoped.

“I’ve never been around any other lion prides other than my own. He’s not like how my old alpha was.”

Zane’s voice softened. “What was your old alpha like?”

“I mean, he was proud. He took the phrase pride of lions to a whole new level.”

Nathan smiled up at his mate. “But that’s fine. I don’t live with them anymore.”

“Thank God,” Marcus said with a low growl.

Nathan swallowed, hoping it wouldn’t go any deeper than this.

He didn’t want to be unloading his emotional baggage on Zane when he had so much to think about already. He didn’t want to do that to him.

But Zane seemed insistent on taking on the responsibility of things that he didn’t need to.

“I know you’re proud, but of you.”

“What?” Nathan said quickly. “I’m not proud.”

“You totally are,” Marcus said with a smirk, then shrugged before folding his hands behind his head. “I am, too. So I don’t judge.”

“You are proud,” Zane insisted. “You want to keep everything to yourself because you’re worried it’ll be a burden to hear it—”

“Because it is,” Nathan said. “No one wants to have someone else dump their emotional shit onto them. And it doesn’t matter anyway because Cerberus was right. Everything is good here. You and Marcus take care of me, and this pack has been nothing but great. Even the people who don’t like me are a thousand times nicer than some of the people I left behind in my own pride.”

“I get that, but you know you don’t have to hide anything from me, right, honey?” Zane reached for his hand. “If something’s ever bothering you, you never have to keep it to yourself. I won’t judge you for wanting or needing something from me.”

Nathan’s heart lurched. The hand that held on to his felt like it would burst into flames if he gripped it for much longer.

But he couldn’t bring himself to let it go either.

Let him burn. If he did it with Zane and Marcus by his side, he would be perfectly fine.

But despite Zane’s words, he couldn't quite bring himself to believe that everything would be as simple as Zane said it would.

“Why didn’t you come back to bed last night?”

He shouldn’t have asked. The second the question came out of his mouth, Nathan knew it was a mistake because he could see the regret in Zane’s eyes.

Before Zane could respond, someone called for him.

William. He was with the two wolf shifters, his son and the other one.

Fuck. Nathan thought he was going to be chatting with Cerberus? What the hell happened to that?

Clearly there had been a change of plans, because now it seemed William had to have Zane with him right away to take care of something.

Or talk more business and security talk with Cerberus.

Zane pressed his lips together, the annoyance clear, but he erased that look from his face before turning back to Nathan.

“I’ll make it up to you tonight, I promise.” He leaned in, kissing Nathan on the mouth before he was ready to rush off.

“Hey, where’s my kiss, dickhead?” Marcus snapped, bristling.

Zane rounded back, looking very much as though he was fighting to keep from laughing at the near slip-up.

“Sorry,” he said, kissing a miserable-looking Marcus on the mouth before rushing back to William.

Even Nathan couldn’t help but smile at that.

“You thought he forgot you?”

“He didn’t forget. He’s just being a dink,” Marcus said, obviously still offended by the whole thing, but when he looked back at Nathan, Marcus gripped his shoulder and squeezed. “He’s not trying to be distant, and it probably won’t last as long as we think it will. He’s not some CEO of a Fortune 500 now. He’s not going to be pulling eighty-hour work weeks.”

Nathan nodded, watching as his mate vanished with William.

He hoped Marcus was right about that.

ADULT EXCERPT

Kissing the back of Marcus’s neck, Zane pressed the head of his dick forward.

There was the initial resistance that came with this. Marcus didn’t take him all the time, and it had been a few days since the three of them were together as well.

He was tight. He was hot, clenching around Zane’s throbbing cock.

Zane growled, his claws coming out a little. He might have sunk them into Marcus’s hips a little, but the other man didn’t complain.

That was good, because Zane was selfish. He didn’t think he could stop now that he’d started.

And he felt Marcus’s hole clench even more when Marcus pushed deep into Nathan’s body.

Both of them gripped by the men they loved. Beautiful. Zane adored it when they were all together like this. He fucking loved it when it was the three of them.

If ever two of them were only together, it wasn’t quite the same.

This was what felt right. This was what made Zane feel whole.

“So perfect. Both of you. Fuck.” Zane let his forehead rest against the back of Marcus’ neck. “I needed this.”

“You’re not the only one,” Marcus panted, glancing back at him. “Now don’t go being gentle on me now. Hurry up and drill me.”

Well, if he insisted.

Zane did as he was commanded. No slow and steady winning the race this time around. He pulled his cock back, until only the head remained inside of Nathan’s wet, warm body, before pushing back in with a force that had their flesh slapping together lewdly, but also in the more perfect formation of sound and rhythm.

And Marcus moaned. He moaned and pushed back while Zane fucked into him with a force that made it impossible for him to not pass that energy into Nathan, who moaned helplessly beneath the weight of both of his mates.

Zane grabbed tightly to Nathan’s ankle, pulling it back harder, yanking him into Marcus.

Not just that, Zane wanted to be touching both men while he fucked into them, he wanted that sense of closeness, and he was going to get it.

“F-fuck…oh God, right there,” Nathan moaned. He hadn’t always been such a talker when they were in bed together, but ever since they had mated with each other, Zane had started to realize that his younger mate was getting more and more confident letting both men know exactly what he wanted.

Except then Nathan looked back at Zane, that pleasured smile still on his face.

“Give it to him. Make me feel it through him.”

Marcus showed the other man his teeth. “Will you stop encouraging him? Gah!”

Too late, because Zane happened to think it was a great idea, and so he slammed his hips harder and faster down onto Marcus, pushing the other man into Nathan, making both of his mates moan his name, moan for him.

“That’s it, you like that,” Zane said, kissing and biting down on the shell of Marcus’s ear.

The man was warm all over, and yet he was shivering as though he was totally helpless to the pleasure.

Good, that was exactly how Zane wanted to keep him. He stopped slamming his hips forward, pushing his cock in and keeping it there while rolling his hips.

Zane ground his teeth together, enjoying the heat and the spasms of Marcus’s body.

Marcus stopped fucking into Nathan, as though he couldn’t keep up with the pace. He seemed to be just barely holding on while Zane worked his body like a puppet’s.

Nathan didn’t seem to notice that Marcus was barely moving anymore. He moaned and thrust back against the other man, his hand pushing down between their bodies as he brought himself to completion.

Zane was close, too. He knew Marcus was, and it was just a matter of bringing him to that edge.

“You feel so hot around my cock, so tight.”

Marcus, as tired and helpless as he looked, managed a smile. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

Even though he and Marcus weren’t mated, that their only connection was through Nathan, it would destroy Zane if anything happened to him.

Because Zane loved Marcus as deeply as he loved Nathan, mating or no mating.

Again, it was something he decided was best to keep to himself. He wasn’t just the male who would take over for this pack. He was the pack’s alpha, their leader.

He was going to have to get used to keeping some of these things to himself from now on.

Only then did he realize how much that was going to pain him in the long run.

But whatever. While Marcus was in the throes of his pleasure, if there was anything in the world Zane could handle, it was a little pain for the peace and pleasure of his mates.