STORY EXCERPT

The wheels of the private Learjet set down, and Zack felt his heartbeat stutter just as the wheels did when they hit the tarmac. He pulled at his collar again, feeling like the tie was tightening around his throat.

This was it.

The jet slowed and then gradually turned toward the private hanger where Zack waited. The airport was small but so were the town and the pack. They had a mere sixty-one members and were one of the smaller packs in the Northwestern Shifter Territory. And that was a lot of territory. It consisted of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.

Zack liked having a smaller pack. He knew each member by first name. He knew who they were related to, who was having pups, what couples were mating, and when a member needed a little extra attention. He knew the members of his pack like they were in his very own family, and to him, they were.

He just hoped it stayed that way.

There was no telling what the new alpha would do. Most alphas cleaned house when they took over a pack. Sometimes, members were banished or killed in challenges. Other times, new members were brought in.

Things didn’t always turn out for the best.

Zack had lost his own parents when Dawson took over as alpha. They had been banished from the pack because they openly disagreed with the man when he outlawed their right to mate with humans. His parents had been forced to join another pack several hundred miles away. Zack had been an adult and was not allowed to leave with his parents. He hadn’t even been allowed to see them in the last ten years.

Maybe the new alpha would change things.

Maybe not.

Zack stood up straighter and dropped his hands, clasping them behind his back, as the jet pulled to a stop in front of him. He’d be lying if he said his heart wasn’t beating a little faster and his throat wasn’t drying up like the Sahara Desert as the door opened and a set of stairs lowered.

His throat grew even dryer when a tall man stepped out of the plane. He wasn’t dressed as Zack thought a new alpha coming to meet his new pack would have been dressed. Where there should have been a suit, instead there were tight, faded jeans, a short-sleeved black T-shirt, and black leather boots.

No matter how the man was dressed, though, he was still Zack’s alpha and deserved his respect. “Alpha Khenti.” Zack nodded when the man reached the bottom of the stairs.

The man pulled down his dark sunglasses with a single finger in the middle of the frame, and peered over the top edge at Zack. “Afraid not, dog boy.”

Zack pressed his lips tightly together. For one, he didn’t want to open his mouth and give credence to the insult just handed to him, even if it was to deny it. For two, Zack suddenly understood who this man was even if he had never met him before. He was an enforcer. He had to be.

If he was a council enforcer, Zack could be in a shitload of trouble. No one crossed a council enforcer and lived to tell the tale. It just wasn’t a smart thing to do. Zack nodded to the man, trying to seem as unthreatening as he possibly could. At six foot three, that was usually pretty hard to do. With this man, who stood several inches taller than he did, it wasn’t so hard.

Zack actually felt a little intimidated.

“Who are you?” the man asked.

“Zack Evens, sir. I was sent by the Aberdeen Pack to greet the new alpha and take him back to pack territory.”

“Identification?”

Really?

Zack pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and pulled his driver’s license out. He handed it to the man and then waited, hoping that he passed whatever security measures were in place.

The man that held his ID looked at it for a moment, and then looked at Zack. And then he lifted his wrist to his mouth and began speaking into a bracelet that looked like it was made of black Paracord, stating Zack’s name and giving his description. Communication device?

Cool.

The man apparently heard what he wanted to hear because after a moment, he nodded and then handed Zack back his license. Zack breathed a sigh of relief as he placed his ID back into his wallet and then put his wallet back into his back pocket.

He glanced up toward the doorway leading into the airplane, wondering where his new alpha was, and then back to the man just staring at him as if he was waiting for something.

Zack felt like a bug on a windshield. He didn’t want to be standing on the tarmac like a damn idiot. He’d rather get the new alpha home and then go off to do—pretty much anything else.

“Well, boys?” came a voice from the doorway, catching Zack’s attention. “Are we done measuring the size of our dicks?” One perfectly manicured eyebrow lifted as a smirk crossed the small man’s face. “Because I can assure you, mine is bigger.”

Zack’s jaw started to drop as he gazed up at the man standing at the top of the stairs. He was dressed simply enough—a white button-down dress shirt and a pair of faded jeans. He even wore a pair of black biker boots like the enforcer—complete with silver wolf heads on each side.

Zack’s jaw continued to unhinge as the man swaggered down the steps, dropping just a little further with each gentle sway of the man’s hips. By the time the golden man reached the tarmac, Zack’s jaw felt like it rested on his chest.

“I’m Ibenré Khenti, but you may refer to me as Iben.” The man held out his hand like he was just a regular guy and not the new alpha of Aberdeen Pack. “I’m the new alpha.”

ADULT EXCERPT

“Alpha, I wanted to—”

Zack’s words faded as Iben looked down at the hand the man had wrapped around his arm. Zack’s skin felt so warm against his, so alive. Iben could hear the rapid pounding of the man’s heart in his chest, hear him swallow as he gathered his courage together. Iben was pretty sure he could even hear the blood pumping through Zack’s veins.

The innocent touch was too much for Iben. After years of denying himself the simplest of touches, and then being faced with a man so beautiful that he made Iben’s teeth ache, he could no longer control himself.

Not when Zack was touching him.

Iben growled as his wolf took control. He swung around and grabbed Zack, taking him down to the soft grass as gently, but as swiftly as he could. He was up and over Zack before the man could even let out an exclamation of surprise.

Iben straddled Zack and leaned down to capture the man’s mouth with his own in a kiss that fed his hungry soul. Zack’s unique taste blasted across his senses like a safety rope to a drowning man.

Iben groaned as he swept his tongue inside of Zack’s mouth and began to explore, dipping and licking with his tongue. He grabbed the edges of Zack’s shirt and pulled, glorying in the sound of fabric ripping.

The skin that was exposed when Iben tossed the edges of the man’s shirt aside was more glorious than even Iben had expected. Muscular pecs and strong abs gave way to a perfect arrow leading to the edge of Zack’s jeans. And a small trail of black hair made a trail from Zack’s belly button to just under his waistband.

Iben needed to know where that trail led to more than he had ever needed anything in his life. He reached down and unbuttoned Zack’s jeans and spread the fabric to the sides, revealing the most beautiful sight he had ever seen.

Iben’s breath caught in his throat as he stroked his fingers over Zack’s full, erect cock. He felt Zack’s fingers dig into his arms and quickly looked up in alarm. When his eyes met Zack’s, the man’s hands fell away and he tilted his head back, baring his throat.

Iben’s wolf howled in victory at Zack’s submissive gesture. It was all Iben could do to keep his claws retracted as he unbuttoned his own jeans and pulled out his hard cock. When he leaned in and pressed their cocks together, the need building inside of Iben pulled a deep feral growl from his throat.

“Zack,” he whispered as he started stroking his hand over their combined erections. He leaned down and licked a line up the side of Zack’s throat, careful to keep from biting Zack. When he claimed his mate, he wanted to do it in a bed, not on the grass for anyone to see them.

But nothing said he couldn’t take the edge off right now.

They both needed it. Iben could feel it. Zack was panting softly, his hips flexing as Iben stroked him. The smell of Zack’s arousal was so thick that Iben was swimming in it. He licked at Zack’s neck again, scraping his teeth over the tender flesh.

Damn, it was all Iben could do not to claim Zack now. His wolf was more than ready. Only the strong scent of Zack’s arousal kept the wolf at bay. It was enough to calm the wolf and let them know that their mate was here in their arms.

Soon, Iben promised his wolf. He’d help take the edge off for both of them and then take Zack up to his room and claim him the way both he and his wolf wanted. Zack would be theirs forever.

Just that thought was enough to bring Iben to the edge of a mind-blowing orgasm. He wanted Zack to go with him. With that need in mind, Iben stroked harder, faster, moving his thumb over the small slit at the head of Zack’s dick.

He sank his teeth into Zack’s tender flesh, not enough to break the skin but just hard enough to leave a mark that would tell anyone who saw it that Zack belonged to him. The red mark satisfied his wolf enough to allow Iben control once again.