STORY EXCERPT

It wasn’t the orgasm he wanted, though those were always great. He just wanted the intimacy with someone who loved him.

“I’m going to report early for duty,” he said. “Do you want to do anything when I get back?”

Kendrick shrugged, which was insanely lame, he knew, but he didn’t know what he wanted to do. He knew there was one person he wanted to see, but he knew Roman wouldn’t approve.

“Maybe we can decide when you get back. We could go to dinner in the great hall with the others for a change, or we could watch a movie.”

All things that would make them put off this terrible conversation they needed to have. The one they really needed to have. The one where Kendrick asked him...no, that was the wrong word. It would be the conversation where Kendrick asked Roman if he wanted to be with Clatcher instead of him.

Just letting himself think something like that was the worst possible thing that could’ve gone through his mind at the time. He had to swallow the giant rock in his throat.

Roman frowned, but it was a worried sort of frown. Kendrick didn’t want Roman to stay behind and see him cry. Not when he’d already done so much crying in front of the man. He wished he was a strong as a warrior sometimes.

“Don’t worry about me, I’m fine. Go on, we’ll talk later,” Kendrick said.

Roman sighed, and he didn’t look much like he believed him, but he still got out of bed and got dressed.

Kendrick watched his mate with half an eye, pulling on his own clothes. How had they gotten to this point? They were so happy together, and then Ailiwen had ruined it by separating them, by throwing Kendrick over that cliff.

Roman had changed after that day. He was still an honorable man, but he’d become something else after Kendrick had been killed. He’d been so focused on vengeance, on hunting Ailiwen down that he just...wasn’t the same.

And Kendrick hadn’t been there for him during that terrible time. Clatcher had. Clatcher had kept Roman from losing his damned mind, from going so far down that dark pit that he couldn’t come back.

But he was still honorable. So honorable that he was willing to turn his back on one man he loved to be with another. Kendrick needed answers for something like that. He was going to have to speak with Clatcher.

Roman pressed another kiss to his forehead, his hand on the back of Kendrick’s head in a touch that was so loving and tender that it shamed him for even thinking Roman didn’t love him anymore.

“I’m leaving early, so I’ll try and come back to you early. We can talk more then. Kendrick?”

“Yeah?” Kendrick asked, staring Roman right in the eyes.

“You’re wearing an amulet made out of one of my scales. I gave it to you, and then I gave you another one when Ailiwen stole the last one. I wouldn’t go through the pain of ripping out two scales for the same person if they weren’t worth it.”

That made Kendrick smile, and he couldn’t help but touch the jeweled amulet that was hanging around his neck. It was even more decorated and glittered with more precious stones than his last one had.

“Yeah, I guess that makes a lot of sense,” he said, and he couldn’t stop smiling.

Roman had his hand on the door handle, but instead of opening it and leaving, he rushed back over to the bed at such a speed that Kendrick barely saw him coming. Not until the man’s hands were on Roman’s cheeks and he was pulling Kendrick up for a deep and passionate kiss.

And now Kendrick could once again feel the exact extent of Roman’s love. He’d felt it many times over the last couple of weeks since he’d been back, but that feeling of love had always been dimmed by the fact that Kendrick did catch Roman with a faraway look on his face.

This was one of those few times when Kendrick could feel the full extent of his mate’s love, no interruptions, and nothing to remind him that Roman ever had feelings for someone else when he thought Kendrick was dead.

When Roman was finished licking deep inside of Kendrick’s mouth, he pulled away, and there was a glimmer in his eyes, one that let Kendrick see exactly how much he was loved.

It filled him right up with a joy of his own that his body could barely contain, and he didn’t want Roman to leave anymore. He wanted him to finish what they’d started.

Of course, they didn’t. Roman nipped at Kendrick’s lower lip, teasing him, and then pulled back. “Something for you to think about for later tonight.”

“You’re such a tease,” Kendrick complained, and then Roman had to rub it in by wiggling his eyebrows.

He was playful like that from time to time. “You like it when I tease you,” he said.

He was totally right, too. Bastard.

Roman left the room with a smile, and Kendrick got up to walk around, read, and take a shower, and he made plans to spend time with Conner, Quinn, and the rest of his friends.

Of course, even a few minutes by himself was enough to think too much, and after an hour had passed, he was back to worrying about what Roman was going through.

When a man was in love with two people at once, he always had to pick someone, but the fact that he’d chosen Kendrick was almost part of the problem. Would he be thinking about what he’d given up?

The grass was always greener on the other side of the fence. Wasn’t that how the saying went?

So was Roman regretting what he’d chosen, when there was someone better waiting for him just a few doors away?

ADULT EXCERPT

Fuck, it was so damned swollen and heavy as it pushed against his entrance that it was taking some doing before it would go inside.

“Too tight. Still too tight,” Clatcher said.

“No,” Kendrick said, shaking his head as he looked behind himself, just to make sure that Clatcher knew Kendrick was being serious. “You just have to push in a little harder. It’ll go in.”

And it did. When Clatcher pushed harder, the head of his dick popped forward into Kendrick’s asshole with a sharp pain, but that lasted only a few seconds before it was replaced with the magnificent burn of having that steel rod slowly thrusting deeper inside of him.

Kendrick almost laughed at the mental image of Clatcher literally pushing a steel rod inside of him. He needed to find a better word to use than that.

“What are you laughing at?” Roman asked.

Kendrick shook his head. “Nothing,” he said, and then moaned again as Clatcher sank in deeper, as deep as Roman could go, but the man’s cock was a little thicker, so it stretched him more, pushing against his inner walls and touching everywhere.

Kendrick panted against the bed, and he could hardly think straight as Clatcher was inside of him except to wonder why the hell they hadn’t thought to do this a lot sooner.

“Roman, I’m inside. Fuck, please hurry.”

Oh yeah, Roman still had to put himself inside of Clatcher.

Kendrick was overcome by the desire to see what that would look like. This was his first threesome, after all, and he was curious.

Of course, he should’ve known that he wouldn’t be able to see what the actual insertion would look like, considering that was behind Clatcher’s body, but he could see still the way Roman slowly moved forward, how Clatcher’s body tightened up and the way his eyes fell shut and his mouth dropped open.

It was fucking gorgeous, even the little noise of approval that left Clatcher’s throat.

“Oh fuck,” Kendrick said. Watching the both of them together made his inner fox run around inside of his head scratching around, all frustrated and eager to get out, and not because it was jealous.

It wanted to be with the both of them as much as Kendrick did. This was the greatest idea he’d ever had in the history of his entire life.

Roman’s hands found their place on Clatcher’s hips, and then he sighed. “You both ready?”

“Yeah,” Kendrick said.

“Oh, fuck yes,” Clatcher replied.

Roman grinned, and his eyes turned into the lizard-like slits of a dragon shifter as he pulled himself back just a little, and then pushed forward with an almost violent strength, the kind that he’d never used on Kendrick before.

And it was fucking great.

The force of that forward thrust pushing into Clatcher’s asshole was somewhat pillowed by the man’s body, but there was still a lot of strength being forced onto Kendrick as Roman’s movements gave Clatcher’s hips nowhere else to go but forward, right into Kendrick.

Roman had been right. This was like being with both men at the same time. It was like having the both of them inside of him at the same time because he could feel the strength of both of them as they fucked him.

With the power of Roman’s movements, Clatcher’s cock was pushed deeper inside of him than even Roman had ever gone. The pleasure was out of this world amazing. It was out of this universe amazing.

Fuck it. There was no right way to describe it that would do it any justice. It was the best sex that Kendrick had ever had in his entire life.

“Oh, fuck,” Roman said.

Kendrick’s sentiments exactly.