The One True Sacrifice

STORY EXCERPT

“You can’t be the one he sent for me,” Aris said.

“What?” Conner asked.

Aris crossed his enormous arms. “I request one of his sons for a mate, to bring our houses together, and he sends me a runt?”

The two dragon men who’d arrived with Aris both snickered, and for the first time in years, Conner’s face heated up with humiliation at that word. He’d learned to live with people calling him a runt, even though he technically wasn’t. He was a little on the short side, but he was an omega, and the only omega out of his alpha and beta brothers, so that made him look even smaller. It wasn’t his fault that a dragon attack had hurt his leg and his heart.

“Do not call my brother that word,” Garret said through his teeth. “He is an omega werewolf.”

“Whose heartbeat is strange. I can hear it.”

“You didn’t hear it before when you were thinking about fucking my brother,” Conner said, glaring up at the man.

Aris fell back a step, as if Conner had physically shoved him. That made him feel better.

“Send him back if you want,” Stan said. “Personally, I’d rather cut off my own foot than hand him over to you.”

Conner appreciated and loved his brothers so damned much, because he knew that he meant it, but he was going to show this dragon that he wasn’t a pushover, even if he was weak. Alphas didn’t back down, and even betas knew when to push buttons. Conner was an omega, but he’d watched his brothers over the years, saw the way they had looked at each other and fought with each other. Conner stared right at Aris and barely allowed himself to blink. Even a dragon had to recognize that as being a challenge.

He was the one who asked for the peace deal, and clearly he hadn’t known that one of Simon’s son’s was nearly a cripple, otherwise he would have specified not to bring him.

When Aris clenched his fists and bit down on his lips, Conner knew that the man was either going to accept what was happening and take him, or he was going to throw Conner back at his brothers and demand that they get the runt out of his sight.

When Aris reached his hand out and clapped that big fist of his on Conner’s shoulder, his already racing heart sped up even more. Not all the meditation or calming chants in the world could get his heart to go back down to a safer speed.

“Are these your things?” Aris asked, motioning to the bag that was hanging off of Conner’s shoulder.

“Yes,” he said, and his mouth was instantly dry.

Aris didn’t smile at him, he just nodded and looked back over at Garret and Stan. “Go to your father and tell him that I accept his welp.”

Aris then snapped his fingers, and one of the other naked dragons stepped forward, and one of them took the duffel bag from Conner’s shoulder. He was a little reluctant to let it go, despite the urge to throw it aside during his hard climb. He’d stuffed the thing with all of his favorite clothes, a photo album in case he never saw his family again, his electronics, and a solar charger for all of them just in case the new place where he was going didn’t have electricity.

He really hoped it would.

“This way, my new mate,” Aris said, though his mouth was in a crooked line when he said it. He clearly wasn’t happy about this, but it also looked like he wasn’t about to let himself lose face either.

“We’ll be coming back to check on him,” Garret said.

“He’s not longer your business,” Aris said, confirming the fears that Conner had kept himself awake with ever since he’d made the announcement that he wanted to be the first person to mate with one of the dragons.

“The hell he’s not!” Stan yelled. “That’s my brother you’ve got! Let him go, right now!”

Stan must’ve tried to step forward so he could grab onto Conner because that was when the two men who were with Aris also jumped forward, and when they roared, their teeth and claws were a lot bigger than anything Stan and Garret had.

“No!” Conner called out, but he yelled it at his brothers, and not at Aris or his men. In fact, when he rushed to Garret and Stan, Aris let him.

“Don’t start a fight, please, this is for the pack,” Conner said, and he had to reach up just to touch both of his brothers’ shoulders.

They stared down at him, and they glared back up at the dragons. “They were the ones who started this war to begin with.”

The dragons snorted behind him at that. Conner wasn’t sure who made that noise, and he didn’t care either.

“It doesn’t matter who started it. I don’t care if unicorn shifters started it. We’re ending it. That’s the entire point of being here, and I don’t want either of you putting this in danger, okay?”

His brothers looked at him, their eyes were equal parts sad and frustrated. Conner knew that his family loved him, but now he was starting to understand the turmoil that they were going through just to go through with this bargain. He hadn’t really thought much of it at all. He’d only imagined that he himself was the one paying the price for this peace, whether it was death, or mating to a species of shifter that hated his guts, it hadn’t mattered. He hadn’t realized just how much this would affect his brothers and father.

This explained why the goodbye from his father had been so short. At first Conner had been hurt, but now he realized that the alpha of the pack just didn’t want to break down and show emotion in front of the council, or the rest of the pack members who would see it as a sign of weakness.

ADULT EXCERPT

Conner could hardly move, and it was getting to the point where he thought he couldn’t breathe, even though he could hear his own ragged breaths as Aris pulled back and then pushed forward, thrusting his cock inside of him, moving his whole body with each forward surge.

He was...really fucking good at this. That was the only way for Conner to think of it because there was no way in hell it was possible that Aris was anything less than a professional, considering how he yanked each and every single tortured moan out of Conner’s body, and he did moan. Loud.

He was going to be so embarrassed when this was over with, but at the moment he didn’t care. He didn’t have it in him to care when the slippery movements of Aris’s cock inside of him was the sole focus of his existence.

Conner had to have more of it. He needed to get closer even though they were already so close that the flesh of their bodies was slapping together, making lewd noises that Conner also wasn’t feeling too embarrassed about in the moment.

Still, the urge was there, and even though it should have been impossible, there was a stubborn part of his brain that was telling him how very possible it was.

Which was why he lifted one of his knees and hooked it over Aris’s ass.

Conner opened his mouth and eyes wide as he yelled. That actually worked! Aris was deeper inside of him now and Conner couldn’t get enough!

He pulled his other leg, his bad one, over and around Aris’s hip, and then he locked his ankles together and it was done. He didn’t even feel any pain at the awkward angle.

“Y–you’re really good at this. Oh, fuck!” Conner moaned, pushing the back of his head down against the grass that was almost too soft, considering how high up the mountain they were.

Aris shocked him by letting his tongue out and actually licking up the side of Conner’s throat, not stopping until he made it to Conner’s ear, and then he took the fleshy lobe between his teeth.

Conner shivered, and a tiny pulse of electricity shocked him from his neck, all the way down to his cock and balls.

He should have come by now. He definitely should have come by now considering how amazing this felt. Somehow, if he’d been jerking off, he knew he wouldn’t have been able to hold back when the pleasure reached this stage, but Aris was holding him back.

“Is–is this a dragon power?”

Aris stopped moaning, he stopped moving completely, and he laughed. The vibrations of that laugh were felt all over and inside of Conner’s body, and he had to bite down on his lips to keep from overflowing with the pleasure that was buzzing inside of him.

“D–don’t stop,” Conner begged.

Aris grabbed him by the chin. “I won’t,” he said, and he kissed him hard.

Conner made a choked noise when that happened. He didn’t mean to, it just sort of came out and there wasn’t anything he could do about it but cling to the other man.

No fucking wonder everyone lost their virginity when they were still in high school. Conner had been the only one to keep his, thanks to all of his insecurities about himself. He barely ever went on any dates, and the men who would date him certainly had looked nothing like Aris did.

How messed up and shallow was that? That Conner was impressed with Aris just because he was insanely handsome and apparently very good in bed.

But then Aris’s hips were pulling back and pushing forward again, and Conner was completely lost to it.

Getting to know each other could come later. So much later. Like after they’d finished fucking and claiming each other.

His fingernails turned into claws that he raked down the larger man’s back, and it was a struggle to keep his eyes open and just watch what Aris was doing to him.

The man was panting, mouth slightly open to reveal his pink tongue, a thin sheen of sweat on his forehead as his body rocked back and forth, his hair swaying with each movement, and his eyes were in that slit shape again.

Conner reached his hand up to touch Aris’s forehead, pushing the hair out of his eyes to get a better look at them.

“Your eyes are gold,” Aris said breathlessly.

“Your eyes are like a snake’s,” Conner said.

Aris frowned a little at that, or maybe it was just the look on his face that he got when he was getting off. Either way, Aris pulled away from him so that their chests were no longer quite so pressed together. He was on his knees now, still inside of Conner, and when Conner tried to sit up, Aris put his hand on his chest and held him down.

“Stay there,” he said, and then he really started to move.

Conner’s head fell back, and he was suddenly clawing at the grass as Aris completely threw all sense of slow and gentle loving out the window. The man’s hips moved like they were part of a machine, and Conner found himself being fucked across the lawn.

Well, not really, but he was aware of the fact that his body was moving a little when he ripped the blades of grass out and felt himself sliding a little.

Conner couldn’t take it, he couldn’t hold on. “Oh fuck, I’m close, I’m close!” he said again and again, until he was reaching up and gripping his own hair so tight that it hurt.

Aris moaned, and then his hand was on Conner’s tight balls, massaging them and making everything inside of his body wind up into one giant, glorious knot.

Falling for the Captive

STORY EXCERPT

“What are you doing here? Who are you?” Grant demanded.

The cute younger man swallowed. “My name’s Tom. Tom Parker. I’m a beta werewolf, and for now I work with the Templars.”

“Why?”

“Because they tell me to, not because I agree with them,” Tom said.

Grant narrowed his eyes. “Speak plainly to me, or I’ll shut you up for good,” he threatened, and he managed to get his fingers to squeeze just enough to let the man know he wasn’t kidding.

Which was total bullshit because for whatever reason, Grant did not want to kill this man.

“I can’t tell you anymore, all right?” Tom snapped. “I’m just...doing a job.”

Grant let out a disgusted noise, and he flung the wolf away from him, hating that he’d had to touch him at all.

The only werewolf Grant liked was Conner, his high dragon’s new mate, and even that respect had been slowly earned by the man’s genuinely cheerful nature.

It seemed that Conner was destined to be the only wolf that Grant ever liked, because the one in front of him was bringing out the worst in him.

“So it’s your job to come in here naked and wrap me up in a blanket?”

“You were cold. You were shivering,” Tom said, and he wasn’t looking at Grant’s face, or even Grant. He was staring down at the floor as he rubbed his arm. He looked nervous, and Grant shoved away the tiny part of himself that felt sympathy.

They were both still on their knees, and now that Grant had the reminder, he realized that it was indeed pretty damn cold on the floor. A lot colder than he thought it was.

Grant scowled at himself as he reached for the blanket, wanting to have a look for himself, as if he would discover there had been something sinister about it.

It really did just look like a regular blanket, the only thing that was off about it, was the fact that there was a small bottle of lubricant among the folds.

Grant picked it up, and he looked right into the blond’s blushing face. He guy was actually hiding his face behind his hand.

“You’re cute and all—”

“I can explain—”

They’d both spoken at the same time, and when that happened, they both stared at each other, as if shocked.

“All right, explain,” Grant said. “Because more and more it’s looking like you were sent in here to get me to fuck you. Do the Templars want some cross between wolf and dragons? Because if they want a hatchling, they’re out of luck.”

“Because you won’t have sex with me?”

“Because the conditions aren’t right,” Grant said, and that was all he was going to say on the matter as well. He barely knew this man, as cute as he was, so there was no way he was going to get into how dragons could impregnate, and only during certain times of the year. Sometimes they couldn’t even do it for years at a time either. With such long life spans, it wouldn’t be the best thing in the world if dragons repopulated like bunnies.

Grant would need to go into heat. His body would produce an immense amount of sperm, as well as a blank egg that would go inside of his chosen mate.

The whole thing was supposed to be a painful process for males who were chosen to carry the hatchlings, which was why everyone had worried about the high dragon choosing such a weak mate for himself. The men who went through with it had to have their entire insides changed around as a womb was created to house the egg. The egg would then take the DNA of the mother, and the sperm would do the rest before it could start to grow.

It was so much easier and less dangerous to just have hatchlings with another dragon, or even a female. They already had the innards for that sort of thing, even if the egg itself always posed as something of a problem after it started to get on the larger side, especially if the shell cracked before the birth.

Grant couldn’t even remember the last time he’d gone into heat, but he hadn’t impregnated anyone in years, and he swore to himself that it wouldn’t take anything less than Armageddon for him to do it again.

“Well, that works out just fine anyway, because I don’t want to get pregnant, and don’t go around talking about wolf and dragon mixes. You’re going to give them some ideas.”

It almost sounded as if this young man really was trying to help Grant, but it could easily be a trick. Templars weren’t exactly known for being honest or fair.

“So then, why are they putting you in here with me?”

Tom looked away from him again. “I told you, it’s a job I have to do. It’s...it’s nothing personal.”

“I see. Well, if the Templars don’t want my sperm to make a hatchling with, then it’s clear they brought you in here to lull me into a false sense of security. I won’t reveal names from my clan or where the castle is or how to get there.”

“They practically already know where it is anyway,” Tom said, and it sounded like the little brat was sulking! “It’s not like you all make it hard for them to figure it out, considering you’re always flying off in the same direction to get back home.”

Grant frowned. He hadn’t thought of that. When he got out of here, he was going to have to speak with Aris, the high dragon, about that as well.

“I still won’t say a thing.”

“Even if it means saving your brother?” Tom asked.

Grant immediately grabbed the man by the throat, and he slammed him down onto the cold ground.

Tom’s heart started to pound, and those interesting blue-green eyes stared up at him.

ADULT EXCERPT

“Do you have anything?” Grant asked. He hadn’t exactly brought any lube in here with him, and he was hoping that Tom’s depression hadn’t halted a healthy need for masturbation.

“Yeah,” Tom said, and he leaned over to his side and reached between the mattresses to yank out a small purple bottle.

Not exactly an original hiding place, but definitely not as obvious as the nightstand either.

Grant took it and popped the thing open with his thumb. He immediately squirted some into his hand and stroked his nearly red cock with it. It was so good that he nearly came from that alone. His prick was dark and the bulb was damn near purple.

It pulsed in his hand, so he stroked it only once just to coat himself, and then he removed his hand to keep himself from coming too soon.

Tom was already fisting and stroking his prick, moaning as he watched Grant touch himself. “Put it in me. Right now, don’t wait.”

Grant snorted a laugh. “I don’t think we should do that,” he said, and then he added some more of the lube to his fingers. It tingled and warmed his cock and his fingers on contact, and he wondered where Tom had come across the stuff.

He also decided it didn’t matter. “I’m going to get you wet for me, and then I’m going to fuck you.”

“Yeah,” Tom said, and his entire body was flushed with want. It was good seeing him like that, seeing his body filled with life instead of lacking in it.

Grant leaned down and pressed his mouth to Tom’s hole, licking it and pressing his tongue against it, feeling the smaller man shiver and listening as he moaned at the pressure he was receiving.

Grant pulled his mouth away and replaced his tongue with slick fingers. He pushed them inside, and Tom pushed his ass back against the intrusion. The sight of Tom thrusting his hips like that made Grant’s cock pulse and his balls tighten up. His mouth watered, and he couldn’t wait much longer.

He had to remind himself that it had been an entire month since they’d done anything even remotely sexual, and then it had been a couple of days before that since Grant had fucked Tom at all.

He hooked his fingers within the ring of muscle, spreading the lube as deep and as far as it would go.

Tom moaned, his gorgeous eyes squeezed tightly shut as he gripped his hair and humped against Grant’s fingers. “N–no more. Fuck me now. Right now, please!”

Grant had to listen to the man because there was no way in hell he could deny his lover, his mate, after all this time anymore.

Grant pulled his fingers from Tom’s hole, and he leaned down and pressed a hard, biting kiss to the man’s swollen lips just as he gripped himself by the root, lined up the head of his cock, and then thrust it home.

Tom cried out and tensed up. His wolf’s claws had come out and he was gripping Grant by the shoulders, digging into the flesh and making him bleed, but he felt no pain because it was just so damned good.

Tom was so damned tight. Grant had forgotten how hot and good this felt, and the second his cock was buried within that heat, Grant lost all ability to think of anything but ramming his hips forward and taking Tom as hard and fast as he could.

Tom arched his back and dug his fingernails deeper into Grant’s skin, and it made him that much hotter for the guy. For the first time in so long, Grant was staring at the bite mark on Tom’s neck with something other than guilt, and he leaned in and pressed his teeth to the familiar scar as their bodies rocked together. Skin slick with sweat and pre-cum that was leaking from Tom’s cock as it was trapped between their bodies, Grant lost complete control of himself.

He came with a growl, his body becoming tight and his cock swelling even more as the release surged through him like a rocket.

He spilled his seed deep inside of his mate, the pleasure rocked him, and then Tom’s asshole was gripping him tight enough that it nearly hurt.

Warm cum spilled between them as Tom opened his mouth and came with a loud yell. The sight of his wolf’s teeth, the way his eyes glowed that bright gold, was such a turn-on, and Grant thought he could go again.

In fact, he knew he could go again. His prick was still hard and he still wanted to keep the momentum of his hips going.

Tom blinked as if he was in a daze. “Th–this is going to go on for a while.”

“Yeah?” Grant asked, grinning a bit as he rocked his hips forward. He was fully hard again within seconds, and soon he was thrusting in earnest again.

“Y–yeah,” Tom moaned. “M–my scent, my ph–pheromones—”

Grant kissed the man, pushing his tongue between Tom’s lips and enjoying the natural taste of his beta wolf. He didn’t have to say anymore anyway. Grant understood. He’d already suspected this would happen once he realized what was going on. They’d been apart for too long, avoiding each other for weeks, and now they needed to catch up on all that time lost.