STORY EXCERPT

Leon guessed Luna was getting ready to leave. The afternoon was far advanced, with shadows lengthening in the low sun and a chill in the air. His assumption meant that when he knocked on the door to the room they’d been using for talks, he wasn’t expecting the reception he received.

Urban, Reynolds, and two other wolves were there along with Luna. His first thought about one of the new wolves was that he was another alpha. There was a sense of power and competence that he’d so far felt only from Urban. Dark hair brushed his shoulders, and his eyes were stormy with anger, which was a shame because damn, he was hot. A face that would make him a fortune in Hollywood, as would his broad shoulders and the way faded jeans clung to his powerful thighs. Leon forced his gaze away to check on the fourth wolf, and faint unease spasmed inside him when he realized it was the one he’d pounced on. He was the youngest pack member Leon had seen so far. In his early twenties, if Leon had to guess, and his gaze was concentrated on his feet as if he was embarrassed.

Leon’s wariness intensified when he saw Luna’s face. He reckoned if she were in cat form, he’d be getting a swipe across his muzzle, claws most definitely unsheathed. He tucked his hair behind his ear.

“Did you attack one of our hosts?” she asked him. Her tone was neutral, but it didn’t prevent the flare of anger he felt at such an unjust accusation from her, of all people, and in front of damned wolves.

“No,” he bit out. “I didn’t hurt him. I was teaching him a lesson. People never look up. Just because they don’t climb, it doesn’t mean no one else does.”

“You couldn’t have got his attention any other way than by jumping on top of him?”

The wolves were being conspicuously silent, letting Luna deal with her brother, but he could feel the weight of their attention on him. He was aware of the burning anger coming from the dark-haired wolf, whose glare hadn’t moved from Leon’s face.

Knowing he mustn’t undermine her status in front of them, he didn’t make the first retort that rose to his lips—you really think panthers can whistle? “He was paying no attention to anything around him,” he said. Maybe he was dropping the young wolf in it, but this attack from his sister wasn’t fair. She’d never let one of their pride get away with such sloppiness. “I thought he could use a reminder that anyone could have been out there.”

The dark-haired wolf erupted, fury in his voice, his hands clenched. Leon had the distinct impression that, if not for the presence of his alpha, he would have launched himself at Leon. “He was off-duty and going for his fucking lunch.”

Well, shit. Leon knew he had a tendency to leap before he looked, but this was all kinds of awkward. “Sorry?” he offered. Not that he’d normally apologize, but he knew how important Luna thought these talks were, and he’d nearly managed to derail them, single-handedly.

Luna glanced at Urban. He unfolded his arms and fixed his gaze on Leon. “I don’t appreciate you attacking one of my pack, whatever your motives may have been. You won’t do it again,” he said, and the weight of authority in his voice had Leon fighting not to crouch in submission. “But it doesn’t hurt to be reminded that attacks can come from angles we’re not expecting.”

Leon had never known anyone seethe as furiously or silently as that dark-haired wolf. Either he resented his alpha implicitly criticizing him or he thought his alpha was wrong but couldn’t correct him in front of their guests.

Leon nodded at Urban in recognition of the olive branch. “It’s my responsibility to keep our queen safe,” he said. “Your pack members are very good, but it concerns me that I was moving around out there without any of them noticing.”

“I noticed,” Dark-hair said. “I’d been following you all morning. Seems you’re the one who wasn’t noticing.”

Leon had never wanted to punch someone so much as he did at that moment.

“I’m glad we’ve got things straightened out,” Luna said firmly. “Though perhaps, Leon, you might like to speak to Tristan while we finish up here.”

“Karl,” Urban said, preventing Dark-hair from following Leon and the younger one out of the door.

He didn’t know if Urban really wanted to speak to the wolf or if he realized they’d end up brawling in the backyard if he didn’t keep them apart.

Tristan led the way to the kitchen, where he stopped and looked at Leon. “It never occurred to me to look up.”

He was so earnest and open that Leon couldn’t help but forgive him for the trouble he’d caused. “My grandpa taught me to,” he said. “Not only for security but when you’re a tourist somewhere—always look up. You see the little details everyone else misses.” Like the grotesques and gargoyles he and Luna had seen during a European trip they’d gone on as kids before his so-called parents kicked him out.

Tristan nodded, his hair flying with the enthusiasm of his gesture. “I’d never have thought of it,” he said. “D’you want a coffee?”

For him, it seemed, the chapter was over. Leon only hoped Luna would be as forgiving.

ADULT EXCERPT

Careful to stay under their shelter, Karl moved to kneel between Leon’s open thighs. His gaze roamed over every part of Leon’s body, his eyes hot with need. And because Leon knew he had a good body —he might not have much else going for him, but he had that—he stretched out on the blanket under Karl’s hungry stare. A self-satisfied smile touched his lips as he displayed himself for Karl.

Karl shook his head very slightly in what looked like exasperation touched with fondness, improbable though that seemed. But Leon forgot about it as Karl’s fingers started their maddening trailing over Leon’s skin again, this time over the soft, sensitive skin of his inner thighs. The damn wolf wasn’t doing anything more than that. He was just teasing and looking, until Leon forgot his self-satisfaction and was practically squirming as he tried to get Karl to do something.

He finally had his wish, because Karl lowered his head and licked Leon’s cock in a long stripe. He did it again, this time taking a moment to swirl his tongue over the sensitive head, before starting all over again. And it was official. Leon was going to die. Killed by a wolf. Not the way he’d ever thought he’d go out.

He writhed under Karl’s talented mouth, and he was sobbing by the time Karl stopped teasing and pushed his mouth down on Leon’s cock. Leon’s hips lifted instinctively, thrusting his cock further into Karl’s mouth, needing more of that slick warmth surrounding him. He’d thought Karl had been relentless in his running, but it had nothing on the way his mouth was moving up and down on Leon’s cock, sucking him until he thought he might die from it.

Leon levered himself up onto his elbows so he could look down his body to see that Karl looked just as good as he felt. His cheeks were hollowed, his lips tight around Leon’s cock, and dark lashes fanned against his cheek where his eyes were closed as he concentrated on sucking Leon. The sight of him taking Leon in like that had Leon falling back down and panting helplessly to the tarp above him.

Karl was using his tongue in ways Leon didn’t know tongues could be used. Right up until he took Leon in so deep that the heat and the pressure and the sheer fucking hotness of knowing it was Karl was definitely going to kill him. Leon’s head tilted back and he groaned, not believing how quickly Karl had brought him so close. When Karl started stroking his balls with those maddening fingers, Leon was gone. He retained just enough sense to pull Karl off and downright yowled as he came.

“Fuck,” he said, when he finally got his breath back.

Karl was kneeling up, looking at him with a grin on his face that wiped away all the care and tiredness he’d been carrying. A triumphant grin that Leon had every intention of removing. If that damn wolf thought he’d won this round, he’d soon learn how talented Leon was.

It took more squirming, but then Karl was the one lying down, at Leon’s mercy. And Leon didn’t do mercy. He took his time, exploring Karl’s body with mouth and hands, his hair trailing over Karl’s skin as he moved. Karl’s chest was rising and falling swiftly, and as Leon licked at a nipple, he surged up, cursing.

Interesting. Leon tried it again with the same result. Finally armed with the knowledge of what it took to conquer the bossy wolf, Leon set to work. He sucked Karl’s nipples, one after the other, drawing them into his mouth and lashing them with his tongue, and then he gently bit them. And then he bit them not quite so gently, until Karl was writhing under his attentions. Driven by something he didn’t understand, Leon rubbed his cheek against Kar’s chest. He hadn’t been in human form long enough for much stubble to come through, but there was just enough of a dusting for it to catch at Karl’s sensitized nipples, and when it did, he truly thought the wolf was going to launch into orbit. God, he’d never known anyone this sensitive. And he’d never before felt the urge to mark anyone.

Confused by the fact he’d done that to Karl, Leon decided to turn his attention elsewhere. The whole time he’d been teasing Karl, Leon’s mouth had been watering at the prospect of sucking that fat cock. Karl was swearing in broken-off, jerky words, which became one long stream of filth when Leon wrapped his long fingers around that beautiful hard cock and guided it into his mouth. 

Karl had manners. So many guys thought Leon’s hair meant they were free to wrap their hands in it, using it to force his head down on them. Not that Leon necessarily minded, but only if he’d agreed beforehand. Leon could tell Karl wanted to from the way his hands were clenching in the metallic blanket underneath him, but he let Leon control things. And God, his cock was gorgeous, filling Leon’s mouth with its heat and hardness. Leon wanted to suck Karl’s cock forever.