STORY EXCERPT

Holy shit, he really was planning on getting laid.

Carter started whistling a tune as he threw the bags into the giant dumpster out back. He wiped his hands off and started walking around to the lit area of the gas station to get what he needed for tonight. Putting a hand to his face, he smelled his breath. Even after brushing his teeth, he wasn’t totally satisfied. He should buy some gum or something.

It must have rained sometime when he was still in the shower. The concrete parking lot was wet and dark as he walked to the gas station.

He didn’t hear the heavy footsteps behind him until it was too late. The hands around his mouth and the arm around his neck were so strong that, at first, he didn’t recognize them as hands or arms. He screamed. He tried to at least. The hand over his face didn’t let much of a noise get out.

The problem was how the hand wasn’t just over his mouth. As Carter’s feet left the ground and he was carried away, farther and farther away from the light of the diner and the gas station, his heart pounded in his throat. He couldn’t breathe! He couldn’t breathe!

Things got dark. At first he thought it was because he was passing out, but no, he was just getting deeper and deeper into the trees, where there was no light, no one to hear him die.

He thought he heard the squealing of tires and saw the yellow lights of a truck flying into the parking lot and heading right to him. A big, dark figure jumped out, but then the darkness of the trees surrounded him. He couldn’t see anything, and his lungs were about to explode.

No, it wasn’t that he couldn’t see. He was passing out. Thank God, because it hurt too much. He didn’t want to be awake when these guys killed him. He hoped his brother wouldn’t ever see him dead.

He just wished he could’ve gone on that date. Brooks had seemed like such a nice guy.

* * * *

Brooks Walker saw it as he was pulling into the parking lot. Those motherfuckers taking Carter into the trees. He glanced to the side and noted the way those people were dragging that kid away, kicking and struggling against them. Even from the distance, he could tell it was the young man, his mate.

Carter.

No. No. No. This was not about to happen!

Brooks stepped on the gas. He damn near tipped his truck when he turned into the parking lot and sped to the back, where he saw three guys dragging his mate away. He wasn’t struggling too much by the end. They were taking him into the trees.

Brooks jumped out of his truck and practically flew at them.

Not again. This wasn’t going to happen to him again. He wouldn’t let these bastard hunters live for this.

The only noise he heard was the sound of his own breathing as he beat feet on the pavement and then the rocky terrain at the edge of the lot. Then he was being scratched by branches and thorns.

They weren’t going to hurt Carter. Brooks had just found him. Just found his mate. He couldn’t lose him already. Brooks thought he would be safe for one more day. No. Please, God, no.

His heart stopped for two of the longest seconds of his life when he nearly tripped over the body. He rolled, coming back up easily on his feet, just like he was trained to do.

The body was Carter’s, and Brooks couldn’t think. He could hardly breathe as he rushed down to his knees.

Basic training told him not to move the man too much in case of a spinal injury, but when he’d been in battle, he’d been expected to get his team out of the line of fire as fast as possible, and Brooks knew there was no way in hell those assholes were about to just leave their prey here without waiting for the chance to strike.

And he was right. He picked up Carter and was on the move when he felt a slug punching into his back. It might’ve hit his heart if his skin and bones hadn’t been those of an alpha.

Brooks grunted, faltered, but stayed on his feet and kept running. He needed to run, to stay alive if he wanted Carter to stay alive.

They would kill Carter, whether they needed him or not. He wouldn’t let them. He wouldn’t let them have his mate. That wasn’t going to happen.

More bullets whizzed by his ears. Some skimmed his arms, burning him along the way. His ear was bleeding, but the trees provided enough cover.

Leave. He needed to leave. To get out of here. Get to his truck and get his mate to a safe place.

ADULT EXCERPT

“Now, let’s get you out of those jeans.”

Carter shivered. He nodded again. Those golden eyes had him under a spell. That was the only explanation for why he was feeling this.

He didn’t mind. Brooks could have Carter under a spell all he liked, because the man was perfect. Carter never wanted anyone else. Not in his lifetime. Brooks was the only person he ever wanted.

Maybe that was why this didn’t only feel easy but also felt like a relief when Brooks put his thumbs into the waist of Carter’s jeans and pulled them down.

There was an instant of relief when he felt the air of the room touch his cock. In that next instant, he was uncomfortable and aching again, his prick feeling too tight, desperate for touch, for friction.

He’d never been this horny, not even when he was still a teenager who needed to get off at every turn. Carter never thought he’d feel this level of desire either. Not after…

He wouldn’t think about that. He wouldn’t let that man ruin this moment, wouldn’t let him destroy how much Carter was enjoying the sensation of Brooks’s lips against his own or the way his scratchy chin pushed against Carter’s, encouraging his mouth to open wider.

Brooks pulled back, as though gasping for air after the intense kiss they’d just had. “Touch me. Put your hands on me.”

Cater groaned, his hands coming up, pushing into Brooks’s hair behind his neck and holding on to his shoulders, feeling the powerful muscles beneath the material of Brooks’s shirt. His hands touched all the skin he could, and, when he could find no skin because of the clothes, it was frustrating. Carter didn’t like it. He groaned as he pulled at Brooks’s shirt, yanking himself back from the other man’s wonderful mouth.

“Get naked. I need to feel you.”

“Anything you want, sweetheart,” Brooks said, his eyes still glowing and something utterly animal appearing in his stare.

It probably should have scared him a little, but it didn’t. If anything, Carter felt safer. He wanted to see more of this animal side to Brooks. He wanted it to come out. He wanted to see it.

And he did. Brooks ripped away his shirt. He was sweaty and warm and strong beneath the material, and, when Carter finally got to touch some of the man’s skin, he moaned. He put his arms behind Brooks’s back and dug his nails into the skin. Brooks groaned, thrusting his cock down against Carter’s. They swallowed each other’s moans through their kisses.

God, he was hard and big. Carter could tell this even though Brooks was still wearing his jeans.

Carter had never felt a man’s hips on him like this, especially not with denim there to increase the sensation he was getting. It was good. It felt so damned good he could hardly stand it. The warmth, the aching pleasure that swelled just behind his belly and made his toes curl was too much. He couldn’t contain it anymore.

“I’m coming. I’m…”

Brooks growled. “Wait for me.”

Carter did. He held back with everything he had inside him as Brooks pushed himself to his knees and unlooped his belt, yanking his jeans and underwear down. Carter was a sucker for a man in his underwear, especially one so good looking as Brooks.

Although, maybe it was better because if Carter had seen Brooks in his underwear, he might not have been able to hold back the way he needed to if they were going to do this.

And thank God, when Brooks put them chest to chest and cock to cock again, there was no denim in the way. He’d pushed his jeans down to his knees, and Carter sighed at the pleasure of feeling a man’s naked, hard erection pressed against his cock for the first time in his life.

It was…so good. Better than he ever thought it would be, and he came hard and fast with barely a single forward thrust from Brooks.

Carter moaned, arching his back and thrusting his cock back up against Brooks’s, even as he was spurting with release. He humped and thrust against the other man as he spurted onto his stomach and chest and Brooks’s chest as well.

A guttural noise left Brooks’s throat as he continued to thrust their dicks together, using Carter’s cum as a sort of lubricant because every forward push from his hips seemed to be enough to keep him going, to keep him slick, and draw out Carter’s pleasure.

He felt the vibration in Brooks’s massive chest before he became aware that the man was reaching his orgasm. Warm cum spurted onto Carter’s stomach and chest. He moaned again as the last spasms of his pleasure were drawn out of him while Brooks kissed and thrust their cocks together.

And it was good. Carter pushed his fingers through Brooks’s sweaty hair, their mouths coming back together before they barely had a chance to catch their breaths.

“Mmm,” Carter moaned as he opened his mouth for Brooks’s warm tongue. It pushed inside his mouth with a gentle push while, at the same time, managing to dominate, to make Carter feel lik he belonged to this man.

He did. He belonged to Brooks. He wasn’t sure how he knew that, but he did.

Brooks wasn’t done moving. He was still thrusting his cock against Carter’s, till moaning softly as his dick remained hard.