STORY EXCERPT

Blond hair sufficiently frosted and spiked?

Check.

Black eyeliner expertly applied to bring out the green in my eyes?

Check.

Lips plump, shiny, and looking like I could suck a golf ball through a hundred feet of garden hose?

Check.

See-through T-shirt tight over chest and short enough to show off my belly button ring?

Check.

Pants low on my hips and hugging my ass so tight I can’t breathe?

Check.

Rowan Connelly laughed at himself in the bathroom mirror. He could breathe, but just barely. If he sat down, his tight black leather pants were in serious jeopardy of splitting at the seams and maybe a ball or two would be crushed in the process. But as long as they hung low on his hips and hugged his ass, who gave a crap?

His mama always said that being beautiful came at a price, and if he hoped to get lucky tonight, that price was breathing. Hell, breathing was highly overrated anyway. Sex, now that was the stuff, and unfortunately, it was stuff he was currently lacking in his life. Hopefully, he looked slutty enough to get someone interested and get that taken care of.

He patted his hair one last time then went into his bedroom and retrieved the condom and small tube of lube from his nightstand and pushed it into his front pocket. He pushed his identification into his back pocket along with some cash then headed toward his living room to wait for his ride.

Twenty minutes into pacing back and forth in front of the front window and he was about ready to go on his own. His brother Seth was never good at arriving anywhere on time, but this was ridiculous.

Rowan had a feeling Seth would be late to his own damn funeral.

Just when he was ready to pull his hair out from frustration, the phone rang. Rowan jumped toward it. “It’s about damn time,” he snapped, not waiting for anyone to say anything. “I’ve been waiting for—”

“Rowan.”

Crap on a cracker. Rowan gripped the countertop so tightly that the tips of his fingers started to sting. He could feel the animosity coming through the phone from the simple mention of his name. Rowan drew in a deep breath and braced himself.

“Hello, Carlton.”

“I’ve sent a car for you. I’ll expect you at Briarwood in an hour.”

Rowan drew in another shaky breath. His fingers gripped the countertop even more. “I’m sorry, Carlton. I was under the impression that you had banished me from pack lands. I distinctly remember you telling me never to set foot in Briarwood again.”

“Rowan!”

Rowan held the phone away from his ear when Carlton shouted into the phone. Had the man ever spoken a soft word? Rowan’s head started to throb. He could already feel the headache coming on. He knew for a fact that it would be a migraine by the time he hung up with Carlton.

“I do not have time for your foolishness,” Carlton snapped. “Be ready when the car arrives.”

Rowan’s fingers tightened around the phone. He knew he had to stop letting his former alpha dictate his actions, especially since he had been kicked out of the pack six months ago and had to learn to live on his own with no pack to call his own. It just sucked that his family had suffered the same fate because he refused the alpha’s advances.

“I’m truly sorry, Carlton.” Right. Rowan rolled his eyes. Even he didn’t believe that one. “I have other plans tonight. Maybe we can get together for Sunday brunch.”

And maybe they would need snowblowers in hell.

“I don’t give a damn what plans you have, Rowan. You will wait for the car and return to Briarwood.”

Rowan winced as shards of pain hammered into his head at Carlton’s anger. He rubbed his temple until the pain receded then sighed deeply. “No, you never did care about what I wanted, and I can see that has not changed.”

“Enough, Rowan!”

“I have to go, Carlton.” An inexplicable perverse emotion suddenly filled him. “I’m off to the bar to find a big dick to fuck my ass. I can’t say it’s been nice talking to you, but it’s been interesting.” God, he wished he was a fly on the wall to see Carlton’s reaction to his crass words.

Rowan could hear the alpha screaming into the phone as he set it back in the cradle. He had no idea what had made him say what he had to the man. Carlton was sure to be pissed beyond reason. Rowan knew there would be repercussions for his words, starting with the migraine he knew was coming. He just didn’t care at the moment.

He had stopped caring six months ago when his alpha kicked him out of the only home he had ever known because he wouldn’t mate with the man. A mating Rowan knew nothing about had been announced at his twenty-fifth birthday party. When Rowan had learned that his mating ceremony to Carlton was planned for the following month, he knew he couldn’t keep his mouth shut.

The expression of uncontrollable rage on Carlton’s face when he refused the mating still stuck in his mind. He just didn’t care. No one had asked him if he wanted to be mated to the alpha. Carlton had just announced it like he would accept whatever little crumbs the alpha threw his way.

He might not be as tall or as handsome as his three brothers, but he had curves in all the right places, as his mother liked to tell him. Curves Rowan was very proud to show off. It sounded rather odd when referenced to a man, but he did have quite the ass. He had gotten his striking blond hair and high cheekbones from his mother along with her small, compact dancer’s body.

There were days that he loved the slim lines and tight muscles on his body and the way he moved when he walked across a room. There were other days when he hated the fact that he had inherited the Nordic good looks of the rest of his family. It often drew all the wrong people—like Alpha Carlton Gregory.

ADULT EXCERPT

“You may call me Luca.”

Rowan’s smile wobbled. “Rowan.” No last names needed, not if he wanted to get away from tall, dark, and dangerous. And he wasn’t sure he did.

“Yes, I know.” The skin around Luca’s eyes crinkled at the corners when he grinned. “I asked for your name the moment I saw you.”

Rowan blinked in surprise. “Really?” That was bad. Stalkerish bad.

“I could not let you get away from me without knowing everything about you.”

Wow! Obsess much? Rowan frowned. “Do you always stalk people you just met?”

“Just you, anamchara.”

“Lucky me.” This was all getting a little weird.

“No, anamchara, I am the lucky one, lucky that the gods have designed to grant me with such a beautiful gift.”

Rowan tried not to shy away from the fingers that slid down the side of his face but it took all of his control. Things were getting weirder by the minute. He just wanted to go out and have a good time, maybe find someone to spend the night with. Rowan only had wham-bam-thank-you-sir in mind when he had headed out of his apartment. He hadn’t meant to find a stalker.

Maybe it was time to go.

“Stay, anamchara,” Luca said as if reading Rowan’s mind, which was unnerving in itself. “Let me kiss you.”

Rowan swallowed hard as his eyes dropped to Luca’s full lips. Maybe not. It wasn’t like he had any other offers, and what could one little kiss hurt? Because kissing Luca would be like kissing the hottest man he had ever seen in his life.

And then he could go.

Really.

Swear.

“Okay,” Rowan whispered.

He couldn't tear his eyes away from Luca’s lips as the man leaned closer. He watched them until they faded from sight then looked up into Luca’s dark eyes, inhaling sharply when he noticed that they had darkened even more. Different shades of deep red seemed to swirl around their murky depths, hypnotizing Rowan until he felt Luca’s lips press against his—and then he moaned.

Kissing Luca sucked every last bit of air right out of Rowan’s lungs. His lips tingled as delight filled every cell in his body. Rowan groaned against Luca’s lips and moved closer, pressing his body against the bigger man’s.

He needed more.

When Luca’s tongue stroked over his lips, Rowan eagerly opened his mouth and allowed the man inside. A sweet, musky flavor blasted across his senses when their tongues met and tangled together. Rowan couldn’t have prevented the soft mewling sound that left his mouth if his life depended on it.

His cock throbbed in his pants, threatening to break through his zipper in a need to get to Luca’s. Rowan couldn’t ever remember being so aroused in his life. It was almost more imperative than breathing to get closer to the man.

Rowan swung his leg over Luca’s thighs and pushed himself up to straddle the man’s lap. When he settled down and felt Luca’s hard cock press up against him through their layers of clothing, Rowan’s mind fragmented. He shuddered in delight when he felt fingernails trail down over his skin.

He started moving, pressing himself down on Luca’s hard length. He thought he might have offended Luca when the man suddenly growled, until he felt Luca’s hands grip his ass and push him down until they were grinding against each other.

“Please,” Rowan whispered against Luca’s lips. The noises around him faded. The strobe lights dulled as the golden colors swirling in Luca’s eyes deepened. Nothing mattered but feeling Luca’s body pressed against his as the man’s lips devoured him.

“That’s it, mo anamchara.” Rowan heard the words whispered in his mind but was too far gone to think about why he was hearing them.

Rowan cried out in ecstasy when he felt one of Luca’s hands move around his body to press against his aching cock through his leather pants. They were so tight he could feel every single touch of Luca’s fingers. His head fell back on his shoulders as he humped his hips, trying to create even more friction. He was so close to blowing he could almost taste it.

Rowan was so caught up in the pleasure racing through his body that he didn’t even notice his pants being unbuttoned until the hot skin of Luca’s bare hand wrapped around his cock. At the same moment, Luca’s other hand slid down the back of his pants, the man’s thick finger moving down between the crease of his ass to lightly flutter over Rowan’s sensitive opening.

Rowan started keening low in his throat, the pleasure threatening to drown him. No one had ever touched him in such a manner. No one had ever made him feel such ecstasy before. Rowan felt like he was going up in flames—and Luca was adding fuel to the fire with every soft touch.

“Luca!”

“Yes, anamchara, that’s it,” Rowan heard in his mind again. “Come for me. Show your master how much you like my hands on you, how much you like me touching you.”

Luca’s words inflamed Rowan. He’d revisit the master comment later, much later. He was too busy at the moment going out of his mind. Every exquisite sensation flowing through his body came together in one large sudden explosion. The feeling of Luca biting into his shoulder was all Rowan needed to fall over the edge into the abyss.