STORY EXCERPTS

There were several first aid kits all over this house, and they were all the heavy-duty kinds that were meant for major injuries.

He yanked it out and returned to the foyer just in time to see Alistair and Carlisle stepping into the house, both dripping wet and both arguing with their fangs out.

Alistair was a lion. Carlisle was a dragon. As much as August respected and liked Alistair, he had to admit that Carlisle looked much scarier in that moment.

“This is all your fucking fault!” Carlisle snapped. “If you’d stuck with the plan—”

“The plan was flawed, and I wasn’t about to let Will and Burne take that risk so you could get closer to Gary.”

“We could have known where they were!”

“If Keaton doesn’t want us knowing where he’s keeping Gary, then we’re not going to know! End of story!”

August had to force his attention off the other two men. Their arguing was getting intense, and he was starting to tremble at the sight of the blood on the floor.

Kevin was there, on the floor now, as well, cradling Ian, a soft glow surrounding both men as Kevin tried to heal the other man, but William’s relief was obvious when he spotted August with the first aid kit.

“Thanks, baby,” he said, kissing August quickly on the cheek and taking the red kit from his hands.

“Holy shit, what happened?” Nathan asked, standing next to August.

August hadn’t even noticed his brother was there. He looked up at the stairs, seeing the other mates standing around, curious about what was happening, as well.

Joey was up there, but Yuki had been left behind to guard the house, so he didn’t have to worry about the safety of his own mate. Felix was the one who appeared the most pale as he stood on the stairway. “Is Burne all right?”

“He’s fine,” Alistair called, though he barely gave the man any attention at all before he and Carlisle went back to yelling at each other.

August watched as his mate tended to Ian’s wound on his stomach, using stitches first, then the bandages and gauze to close up the wounds and stop the bleeding since Kevin’s magick didn’t appear to be doing the job fast enough.

Though it probably was better to have both modern medicine and Kevin’s natural magick working together. It was a nasty looking wound.

And August felt his ears ringing. He struggled against the urge to be sick.

Not here and not now. He couldn’t allow that to happen. He needed to hold it together, at least for William’s sake. August didn’t know everything that had happened, and he didn’t want to lose his cool while William was working.

“Will? Are you okay?” Some of that blood was on Will’s clothes and hands. What if some of it belonged to him?

William glanced up at him, and he managed to smile before he turned the rest of his attention back to Ian, who was still hissing from the pain, blood between his teeth.

“I’m all right, sweetheart. I’ll be with you in a second.”

That was good because August really couldn’t be there anymore. It was too much. He was going to be sick if he had to look at any more blood.

It was cowardly, and he didn’t much like himself for it, but August fled the foyer.

Nathan called out to him, but August ignored it as he ran up the stairs and to the bedroom he shared with William.

Only when he was there and the door was shut firmly behind him did he feel as if he could breathe, and he sucked back many long, deep breaths before the ringing in his ears stopped.

His entire body felt warm, and not in a good way. August reached his hand up to clutch at his pounding heart.

Fuck. Holy fuck. As if that had happened. He’d almost lost it right there in the foyer when a man had been bleeding out on the floor.

From the sound of it, Ian would be fine, but even from where he was, August could still hear Carlisle and Alistair yelling at each other, and it was still making him tremble and shake.

What the hell was the matter with him? Why was he reacting like this? This was insane and incredibly selfish.

Someone was downstairs injured, not everyone was home yet, Felix was worried about his mate, and Alistair was going nuts.

William had said he was all right, but he could have just been saying that to make August feel better.

It was a good thing Tomas was at work with Bramwell. He didn’t have anything to worry about either, but even though August wasn’t the only one in this house who didn’t have some sort of special talent or power, he did seem to be the one who was the most useless.

No one else, not even Felix, who had been worried about Burne, had looked as if they were struggling to keep their shit together the way August was.

August was about to come flying apart and all at the sight of a little blood. How in the hell was he supposed to help make William’s life easier when this was how he reacted? He didn’t want his mate worrying about him when there was someone else bleeding on the floor.

August sucked back another hard breath. Calm. He needed to keep calm. If he was ever going to be useful inside this house, he needed to find something to do other than running away and hiding in his room at the sight of blood.

Considering what William needed to do, the chances were good that August would be seeing blood again, many times over in his life.

Some of it would belong to William, and August needed to make sure he would handle it when that day rolled around.

ADULT EXCERPT

 “Was wondering when you were going to get in here.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Will said, leaning down and capturing August’s lips.

God, he was warm. Warm and sweet, and Will was never going to get tired of tasting this man. His hands slid down and around August’s body, touching everywhere that could be reached and pinching and squeezing all the spots he knew would make August cry out.

August thrust his hips forward when William took his ass cheeks in hand, squeezing them tight, making the other man cry out before he moaned.

William liked that. No, he loved it. He absolutely loved how much control his mate gave to him whenever Will did this. William could play his mate as if he were a musical instrument. It was wonderful.

He couldn’t just neglect the rest of August’s body, however. That would hardly be fair to the other man. William had plans.

He released his mate’s ass and reached behind him for the body wash.

August didn’t stop smiling. “What are you doing?”

“Making you go wild with pleasure. Now be quiet. I’m seducing you.”

“Trust me, I’m already seduced.”

William opened the bottle and poured some of the body wash into his palm. “Well, then I’m teasing you. You’re going to make me beg for it by the time I’m done with you.”

August shivered under the hot water, and that was exactly the sort of response that William wanted to see out of his mate.

He soaped the both of them up until they were both slick, nothing but bubbles between them, and that was when William made his attack on August’s nipples.

He ran his fingers over the hard buds at first, but then he gently pinched them, carefully watching August’s facial expression with every move he made.

“Feels good?”

August closed his eyes, nodding. “Yeah.”

August reached down, and Will knew what he was after, so he grabbed his mate by the wrists, yanking them up and over his head before his hand could so much as touch his cock. William pressed his body against August’s, their cocks coming together after Will bent his knees just enough to put them level with each other.

Their lips were so close that William could feel the heat of August’s breath on his mouth. It was sweet and teasing and just what he needed. “Is this what you want?”

William thrust his hard, slick cock against August’s, delighting in the way his mate squeezed his eyes shut, threw his head back, and moaned. It was everything Will wanted to hear.

He thrust forward again, the friction making him clench his jaw to hold back the pleasure, but it was so worth it to hear the sounds of his mate’s pleasure.

“Tell me, come on. I know you want to.”

August moaned again as Will fucked into his pelvis. He glanced down, noting the pre-cum that formed at the head of August’s cock. Damn, he was really close to the edge.

“I…I…”

“Almost, but not quite enough,” Will teased, letting his teeth graze over the shell of his mate’s ear. August had always been tender in that spot. Being reincarnated into a different body apparently hadn’t changed that in the least, and Will very much enjoyed taking advantage of all of August’s weak points.

August moaned and trembled again, and when Will felt the rush of warmth on his stomach, he almost didn’t realize what it was. He looked down, feeling the spurting of August’s dick, seeing it, and only then could he believe it.

“Wow, really?”

“Sorry,” August said.

Will laughed and kissed him on the mouth, hard. It was a quick kiss before he pulled back, staring down into those eyes. “Don’t worry about it because now I just have to make you come again.”

August let his forehead fall against Will’s chest, the smile still on his face. “Sure thing, but now I want to take care of you.”

He wiggled down to his knees in the shower. The spray had washed away most of the body wash, which was probably how August was able to kiss his way down William’s belly without tasting soap, but even if he could, there was no way in hell William was going to turn down a blow job. No way. His skin already felt tight around his body with just the idea that his mate was going to do this, and he was selfish enough to not question whether the position would hurt his knees.

Especially when August took William’s cock in hand by the root, pointed it toward his tongue, and licked at the crown.

Willian hissed then bit down on his lips to hold the sound in. He raised his hands up, pressing them flat on the tiled wall so he could have something to lean against while he looked down at his mate’s work.

“Now you’re going to beg me.”

William’s eyes widened, realizing exactly what his mate was up to, and he had to admit it was something of a devious plot.

“You’re bad.”

August let his tongue slide lewdly up the shaft of William’s dick, playing special attention to the underside of the head. William had to press his lips together again just to hold back the pleasured noises he wanted to make.

And August just smiled sweetly up at him. “Yeah, revenge does suck, you know. Now hurry up and beg me.

He practically sang the words, and William would sing, too, if it was what his mate wanted him to do.

He begged for it.