STORY EXCERPT

“Stay here,” Gideon said.

“But I can—”

“I said stay!”

He didn’t yell. Not really. But his command was sharp, and the look in his remarkably deep blue eyes said just how serious he was, too.

Gideon was an alpha werewolf, and Ross was just an omega. Add that to the fact that he was an omega luna and Ross figured he should do as the man said.

He nodded and crouched down low into the bushes that Gideon had found for him. He was naked, Gideon was not, and they’d been on the run from Lawrence’s pack for the last twelve hours at least.

Gideon’s former pack, who’d kidnapped Ross when he was on a run in his wolf form through the woods. But then Gideon had taken one sniff of him and declared that Ross was his mate.

It wouldn’t do to let a pack of alphas turn a man’s mate into a sex slave, so he tricked them and took Ross away, but now they were being followed.

Gideon apparently decided that enough was enough, because now that Ross was hidden in the bushes—which he didn’t know how that was supposed to help, since the alphas chasing them down would be about to sniff him out anyway—watching Gideon through the branches, the man was quickly getting undressed, taking off his pants and pulling his shirt up and over those perfectly sculpted abs of his.

Fuck. This was not the time to be thinking about the sex they’d had...was it yesterday already? Well, it was pitch black now and very early in the morning, so yeah, it was yesterday that Gideon had claimed him.

“We smell you out here, you fucking traitor!” one of the alphas yelled. The man’s voice carried and it sent a shiver up Ross spine, knowing what they wanted to do to him and Gideon both now at this point.

He’d completely forgotten about that. Gideon was a traitor in their eyes the second he took Ross away from them.

Regular wolf packs had fear and hate for luna werewolves. Most of that fear and hate was toward the alpha lunas, who had a second form that other normal alpha wolves couldn’t shift into.

It was like a tank. Powerful and able to stand on two hind legs. All claws and teeth and fur.

As an omega, Ross couldn’t shift into that form, but he was able to carry the child of an alpha, and transfer energy and strength into other alphas. A mate was able to receive more of that energy and strength, and it was for that reason that other shifters in the world got the wrong impression that the energy transfer was only possible during sex.

Hence the reason why so many shifters were so eager to capture the omegas. They thought the extra strength would give them some kind of advantage, and even shifters who considered themselves straight as an arrow would be willing to rape an omega luna wolf if he thought it would give him some kind of advantage against his enemies.

Gideon wasn’t willing to let those other alphas do something like that to Ross.

Ross hoped so, anyway.

“Come on!” Gideon yelled, and those blue eyes switched to a neon gold as his claws formed on his fingers and hair sprouted all over his body.

The transformation into wolf form was nearly instantaneous, but Gideon was not a luna werewolf. He was an alpha, but not a luna, which put him at a disadvantage when fighting against other alphas.

Three men rushed through the trees, jumping clear of the dark shrubs and branches with the kind of grace that should have been slow motion in a movie.

This wasn’t a movie. It was life or death.

They had a cocky walk as they surrounded the black wolf that Gideon had become, but their eyes were still confused. The leader, a man with dark skin and a bald head, lifted his arms and looked around himself. “I know you haven’t been with our pack for long, but really? You would risk everything for one omega?”

Gideon growled at him.

Ross didn’t know any of the men who were surrounding Gideon, so he was forced to use his sight and smell to identify them. The second alpha with him, a make with spiky blond hair, and somewhat wiry for an alpha, jumped back at the sound of that growl. The third man, who smelled like he didn’t know what a bath was, just laughed hysterically.

Garbage man then stopped laughing as he started sniffing the air. Then he snapped his head right toward the spot where Ross was hiding, his eyes turning into that same bright gold color that all wolves took on when they were about to shift.

Gideon snapped his teeth and jumped in the way, putting himself between Garbage man and the place where Ross was hiding. His head was bent and his hackles were raised up high. He looked like he was about to raise hell on anyone who would try and get past him.

Baldy lifted his hands. They were big, and the claws were starting to come out.

Alphas didn’t take well to being threatened like this. “Don’t do this, Gideon. We can take you back. The omega put a spell on you. We understand. Just come quietly and there won’t be a need for any of this.”

“Right.” They were going to put the entire blame on Ross. Perfect.

Ross didn’t get all that scared until he watched the hackles on Gideon’s back lower little by little, and then he finally sat down and let out a pathetic sounding whine.

What the fucking hell was he doing?

Baldy lowered his hands. “That’s good. We didn’t want to have to take you out. We like you, Hale.”

Gideon released what sounded like a gruff sound from his throat, and then the smallest of the three alphas started walking forward toward Ross.

ADULT EXCERPT

“Do you want me to fuck you?” he said, and then leaned in to take in some of Ross’s scent. He sighed as it warmed his blood. “You smell like you do. You smell like musk, just like you did that first time we were together.”

“You mean yesterday?” Ross asked.

Gideon grinned at the man. “You’re not pulling away from me,” he said, and he decided to let a little of his alpha side out for a spin by being brave and pulling Ross onto his hips. The man came without a fight and straddled him, their cocks rubbing together through the clothes they were wearing.

Ross’s mouth opened in a small, silent gasp, showing Gideon some of his pink tongue. He wanted to take that tongue into his mouth and suck on it. He wanted to do everything to Ross. He slid his hands under the stolen T-shirt and jacket that Ross was wearing, searching for skin and warm contact.

Gideon would have thought that the stolen clothes would have smelled more like the alphas he’d been forced to kill to protect his mate, but Ross had been wearing them for so long that they smelled entirely like him, and that was exactly what he wanted. He didn’t want the scent of any other alpha on his mate.

Gideon let his fingers slide over Ross’s nipples before gently pinching them. Above him, Ross arched into his hands and rubbed his cock against Gideon’s. “That’s—that’s nice. I like that,” Ross said.

“Then let me do it again,” Gideon said, and he latched his mouth on Ross’s throat as he worked the man’s nipples until they were hard buds.

By then, Ross was canting his hips against Gideon’s in a steady rhythm, and the pleasure that rocked through his cock with every motion had Gideon’s heart pumping, and his throat gasping for air.

“I want you, Ross. Please,” he begged, even though he was already sliding the leather jacket off of Ross’s shoulders and lifting his T-shirt above his head, exposing his chest and abs. He had some definition there. Not as much as what Gideon had. Omegas were very rarely as defined as alphas, and they had to work harder with gym time to get what muscle they did have.

It wasn’t like there was a gym in the small town that the three packs were situated around, so that bit of muscle that he did have had to come from surviving for so long.

Gideon wanted to take care of that. He wanted to make sure that Ross never had a reason to be afraid every again, even if he was doing a shit job of it so far.

Ross’s hands were scrambling with his belt. His fingers were desperate as they moved to loosen it and free Gideon’s cock.

Gideon moaned and arched into Ross’s hand when his mate wrapped his fingers around his thick cock. A shiver rippled down Gideon’s spine and he couldn’t do anything to stop himself from thrusting into that warm hand.

He opened his eyes. When had Gideon shut them? Didn’t matter, he didn’t care. Ross was looking down at him with clear lust in those half lidded hazel eyes of his.

Ross wanted him. He so wanted him and he was going to let Gideon do this.

He began frantically searching in his pockets for the little bottle of hand lotion he’d used yesterday in him. He didn’t even know why he had the thing and carried it, it wasn’t like he had a skin condition or anything, but for some reason, before leaving Lawrence’s pack to go on the mission, he’d pocketed it.

Good thing, too. Otherwise this wouldn’t be happening right now.

With the little bottle in his fingers, Gideon grabbed Ross tightly around the hips and shifted their bodies, pushing the man’s back down onto the smooth dry rocks before settling himself between his legs.

“Yeah, fuck me, please,” Ross said, and he wrapped his legs around Gideon’s hips and thrust his cock forward, making the both of them groan with the friction of it.

Gideon clenched his teeth together, and when he finally managed to get control of himself to the point where he was confident that he wasn’t about to come at a moment’s notice, he laughed. “Baby, I want inside you, but I have to get our pants off first.”

Ross groaned, as though that was an annoyance he wished he didn’t have to deal with.

“I could always rip them off and be done with it,” Gideon said, and he hooked his fingers in the jeans that Ross was wearing and tugged just a little.

“No, no!” Ross said. “Dammit. I only just got dressed again. I don’t want to be running around the woods all naked.”

Gideon laughed. “I didn’t think so,” he said. “But you are going to have to let me go.”

Ross’s eyes furrowed in confusion before he realized what Gideon was talking about. “Oh! Right,” he said, and unwound his legs from around Gideon’s hips, letting him sit up.

Gideon couldn’t stop smiling at the man. He felt like the biggest fool in the world, but in a good way as he finished with the button and fly of his jeans and pulled them down.

While he was doing that, Ross was busy with his own jeans, and he pulled his foot up so he could grab at the bottom part of the jeans and tug them off.

“Those are a little tight on you,” Gideon noticed. “How did you get them on?”

“A lot of jumping up and down,” Ross said, throwing away the jeans when he was done with them. He was still barefoot and not wearing any socks, and Gideon didn’t miss the fact that he also wasn’t wearing any underwear. Ross must’ve drawn a line at stealing other men’s underwear, and as for the socks and shoes, well, werewolves, even omegas, didn’t do all that badly when barefoot, even out in the woods.

Or the shoes just hadn’t fit him.

“You’re so fucking gorgeous,” Gideon said. And mine.