STORY EXCERPT

“I love you, come on!”

Oh God. Erik was dead. There was no way he’d hear those words, but they were there. Dylan stared down at him, hands on Erik’s cheeks as he tried to keep Erik awake, those pretty blue eyes swimming and dirt tracks on his cheeks from the tears.

Dylan was way too proud to be crying over Erik’s sorry ass. Or anyone short of his own brother.

He felt himself slipping, but then he heard it again, a broken sob.

“I love you.”

He didn’t care if it was real or not. He could be hallucinating before dying, and he’d go happy.

God, he was so fucking whipped for this guy, and they weren’t even together.

But then, danger. Even sinking into the depths of death as he was, Erik still sensed something major, something terrible and vile coming near him and his Dylan.

And because Dylan was an idiot, he wasn’t running away.

No. No, Erik would die for him, but only if Dylan was going to live! There was no point in giving his life if Dylan was just going to get attacked right after.

The evil warlock raised his hand, ready to shoot another one of those fireballs right at Dylan’s face.

A bright, golden light enveloped them. Erik’s chest no longer hurt, his insides didn’t feel like they’d been liquified, and a terrible scream sounded.

But not from Dylan, from their attacker.

Because a golden wolf was there. Different from Jack, brighter, more beautiful.

Dylan had changed. He was the wolf. He was Erik’s king.

Erik reached for him.

Erik came awake with a heavy snap.

He shot up in bed, arms outstretched, trying to grab onto…

Dylan wasn’t there. No one was there. He was in the only other bedroom in Dean’s house. Which was more of a little closet with a bed than anything else.

The place where they put their sick or injured during the times Dylan needed to heal them.

Speaking of healing…

Erik looked down at himself. He was wearing a change of clothes. An actual pajama top that was almost too tight for him, along with cotton pants.

He’d been close to naked when they were attacked, only wearing a pair of jeans after his freak out that made him leave the pack.

He’d come back, dressed in some pants, and met up with Dylan by the pond where they’d talked.

And Erik had been making peace with never touching him or being near him again.

Because Dylan was mated to their king.

But…Dylan was the king.

Wasn’t he?

Erik took in a deep breath. His lungs weren’t on fire and his ribs didn’t hurt. Dylan must have finished healing him.

He shot out of bed, his legs holding strong.

He felt…great, actually.

But he needed to piss a little too badly.

Erik rushed out of the room. He knew where the bathroom was. He’d been in this house many times before.

He took care of business, looking himself over in the mirror.

He normally looked like shit when he woke up in the morning. Not so much now.

Like the last five years had been shaved off or something.

He rushed out of the bathroom when he was done and headed for the stairs.

Adam, Dylan’s older brother, was already at the bottom, as though getting ready to come up.

He probably heard Erik running around upstairs.

“You’re awake,” Adam said, looking mightily shocked.

Erik rushed downstairs. “How long was I out for?”

“A day,” Adam said. He looked like he hadn’t slept or ate a thing in that time.

Oh God, something happened to Dylan.

Erik grabbed Adam’s shoulders. He was almost Dylan’s same size. They looked a little like each other, because of course they did. They were brothers, but Dylan always had a bit more spark in him.

And if that spark was put out…

“Adam, what happened? Where’s Dylan?”

“He’s gone,” Adam said.

Erik’s insides turned to ice.

Adam’s face twisted like he was fighting to keep from crying. “I don’t know where he is. He’s…he’s gone. He ran off.”

Oh fuck.

Erik exhaled hard.

Okay, that was bad, but infinitely better than being dead.

“Is he with Jack? Is anyone looking for him?”

Adam shook his head. “No, Erik, you don’t understand…Jack fucking lied to us. He lied to us!”

ADULT EXCERPT

He wrapped his arms around Dylan’s middle, holding him tightly to himself, opening his mouth when Dylan pushed his tongue inside.

He was a good kisser. It wasn’t exactly shocking. Erik had seen Dylan kissing other people before, and he didn’t look like he was hard up for experience in that department.

He kissed Erik as though he’d been thinking of this for a long time, too.

Erik moaned into his mouth, falling back onto his ass, letting Dylan straddle him, letting him do whatever the fuck he wanted with him because it was all Erik had ever wanted to give to him.

They kissed and kissed and kissed, Dylan’s hands pushing into Erik’s hair, gripping tightly while he slowly thrust his hips forward.

Erik groaned into his mouth at the feeling of his cock, which was hard beneath the pants Erik had brought for him, pressing against him.

Once again, another switch had been flipped, and there was no chance in hell that Erik could stop himself now.

He growled, pushing his tongue back against Dylan’s, sliding it inside Dylan’s mouth and licking him deep while Dylan moaned softly, a shiver rushing through his whole body.

The wolf inside him growled. He fell down to the ground, keeping Dylan beneath him, uncaring for the ground beneath their bodies as he thrust his hips back against Dylan’s.

Dylan cried against against his mouth, turning his face away and gasping for breath, giving Erik the right amount of time he needed to press heated, nipping kisses to Dylan’s throat.

“You taste so. Fucking. Good,” Erik rasped, kissing him again, thrusting, his cock throbbing with the relief and then the continuous, building pressure.

Dylan breathed hotly into his ear, panting for breath. “Fuck me.”

The switch was flipped off. Just like that.

Erik stopped rutting against him like an animal, pulling back, looking into Dylan’s wide, blue eyes.

Dylan blinked, coming down of that high they both found themselves on.

“What’s the matter?”

“Is that really you asking for that?”

“What?”

He seemed honestly confused. Erik was ruining the moment here, but after two years, two years of being Dylan’s shadow, protecting him, getting the same job with the same schedule so they could always be together…it was too much. Erik couldn’t throw all that way for one fuck.

“You really want me to have sex with you?”

The spell finally seemed to lose some of its strength on Dylan now. He pulled his hands back from Erik’s shoulders, suddenly looking small and unsure.

“I…sorry. I shouldn’t be…sorry.”

He tried to wiggle his way out from beneath Erik, but that wouldn’t do either.

Erik held him in place. “You said you loved me. Was that true?”

He realized he didn’t entirely get a straight answer the last time he asked, just a lot of talk about how scared Dylan was that things were changing.

Dylan wouldn’t look at him, but he couldn’t get away either.

The bright color in his cheeks told Erik all he needed to know before Dylan opened his mouth.

“Yeah. Yes. Just…forget I said that. You were right. I was being dumb.”

“I never said you were being dumb,” Erik said. “I just…can’t believe it.”

Dylan blinked at him, looking more confused than embarrassed. “Why not?”

Erik pushed himself back, sitting up, letting Dylan have some space.

“I want to have sex with you,” Erik blurted out, shaking his head, hating himself. “I’ve wanted to touch you, to kiss you…those first few months after we first met. I don’t even know exactly when that started either. It just…seemed to hit me one day, a lot harder than the rest.”

Dylan stared at him, his full attention on Erik.

He’d been naked around Dylan before, but this was the time when he felt most exposed.