STORY EXCERPT

Kit Pryde

Honestly, I never planned on being alone for the Fourth of July weekend. I cannot say that I am the most patriotic person around, but I love my annual excuse for a barbecue and a few cold beers with friends or family as much as the next person.

However, I was stuck here, alone, in Holbrook, Nebraska. Meanwhile my family—my mom, my stepfather who raised me as his own, plus my older stepbrother, Elijah, in addition to a sprinkling of cousins from my mother’s siblings and my stepdad’s massive family who had welcomed me with open arms—were largely back home in San Diego where I grew up.

Jesus, I would kill for chicken chipotle flautas and a grande original flavored margarita from Cafe Coyote in Old Town, San Diego. I have to admit, reminiscing about home makes me hungry.

I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, “Kit, if you’re that miserable, why did you move to Nebraska from San Diego?”

Fair question, I must admit.

And no, I cannot say that I am miserable.

Yes, I fully own up to the fact of being disappointed that it was too soon into my new job to take time off to go back to San Diego for Comic Con. All I wanted to do was see John Barrowman—Stephen Amell, Nathan Fillion, and Bruce Campbell would have been the icing on the cake of awesome actors.

I am happy in my new job. I am a veterinary surgeon and moving to the heart of farm country was not the worst career move I could make. Even a city vet can find a reasonable job in the middle of cowboy country. Let’s face it, for this gay city boy, cowboy country was also a literal and figurative wet dream. Even if I was only going to be tending the smaller animals at the surgery, while the two other more experienced vets went on calls to ranches to deal with larger animals. I hoped to get the opportunity to learn about farm animals, too. The country life really did call to me.

I am happy in my new home. It’s a two bedroom home with a small patio and garden. The rent is pretty cheap, too. Though since I only know about the rental market in San Diego, I suppose I can only say it’s cheap to San Diego standards. I am actually making friends, so I am not always alone.

It is just the circumstances surrounding the move that makes me sort of bitter.

I suppose most importantly, I do miss my parents, brother, and dad’s massive family, if that is what you’d call it being in a pack of shape shifters. You see, my dad and brother are shape shifters! It was a shock to my mom years back when the man she just met and had already started falling in love with claimed that he was her soul mate and could shape shift into a coyote. Eight-year-old me was excited to hear the news, and the first thing I wanted to do was ride on the back of my new fifteen-year-old brother. Living with coyotes was actually part of the reason why I wanted to study veterinary science in college.

So yes, my mom is my dad’s soul mate. That means that they are together forever and all that mushy stuff.

I’m sure it was more difficult on my parents, the whole mating thing, some mates came together easily, and others took a bit of fighting. We are not the only humans in the pack—that’s what a group of coyotes were—so shifting was just a normal part of life. We were made aware of, and met other shifting species who joined the pack. But I am only one of two unmated humans. I know that is difficult on my mom. Before she mated my stepdad, she had been scared knowing that, like shifters who lived for centuries, I could not unless I found my own mate to extend my lifespan. However, the pack elder that was also a renowned seer assured her and Dad that I would one day find my mate outside of the pack, a long way from San Diego, and that he would be a lion. So my parents knew I was gay before I did, that would have been useful information to know. But, and this is a big one, I never knew the exact details from the seer about my mate until my dad told me after I told my parents that I had broken up with my ex, and was not sure if I should continue the move, even though I got the job. Dad figured it was time to give fate a hand.

Needless to say, shape shifter and other paranormals decided centuries ago to keep their society secret from the humans. Humans like mom and I were only taken into the fold because of the whole soulmate thing, but paranormals consider our place in their society as equal to any other.

As part of my move to Nebraska, dad’s alpha—who is a scary biker looking dude who is over one hundred years old but didn’t look a day over thirty-five—had spoken to the local lion pride and bear clan. It was a simple courtesy call to the alphas, and no one had asked me any strange questions yet, so I assumed that it was kept between the alphas.

Now, let’s get back to the point of my sitting here in Nebraska and not in San Diego.

ADULT EXCERPT

Leo Pard

The moment the door was closed behind us it was like the whole world did not exist. I was pushed against a wall in the kitchen, and my mate was fumbling to undo my belt—the button and zipper of my jeans.

“Fuck, I need to wear fewer things from now on,” I cursed, hissing as my now painful erection rubbed against the soft cotton of my underwear. Instinctively, I knew exactly what was happening and helped my mate by pulling down my jeans and underwear in one fluid movement.

“Oh my God, sweet Jesus.” My mate fell to his knees and looked at my cock in awe. Normally that would probably make me soft but for my mate, I got harder. “I can’t wait to have this inside me.”

“You will, baby, soon.”

“Mmm…” Kit pressed his lips together. “But first...”

Then my mate’s lips were wrapped around my dick. Kit first nibbled and then sucked at the head while he stroked my shaft. My eyes rolled into the back of my head. I dropped my head against the wall and arched into my mate’s sexy mouth.

“That’s it, Kit, you’re perfect.”

I let out an unmanly yelp and called out my mate’s name when he deep-throated me. I pulled my hands through his hair and thrust forward. My dick is not a gargantuan size, but it is a sizeable length and girth that I knew I had to be gentle with my mate. I moaned when Kit hummed around my length.

“I really can’t last long, my mate.”

I was struggling to keep myself together. I had absolutely no control. All my nerve endings were being hit at once, it seemed.

Then Kit pulled off my dick. He massaged my balls with one hand and pumped my shaft with the other. I love the way he paid attention to the head of my dick. I was gasping for air and mindlessly thrust into his eager hand.

“I need to come, Kit.”

“Mm, yes please.”

I’m sure that is what Kit said. Then once more he had his mouth on my dick. He still worked my shaft, but now he swirled his tongue over the head. He sent exquisite jolts of pain down my spine as he squeezed my erection in his fist and used his tongue to apply pressure at the slit. 

A series of rapturous noises escaped my mouth as I got the best blow job of my life.

Minutes after we had started and with Kit’s mouth sucking on my dick, I erupted inside my mate’s mouth. The pulses of his swallowing my cum had him draining me dry. I thrust in and out of his mouth once or twice before removing my spent cock for the final time.

I slid to the ground and dragged Kit with me. I cuddled him in my arms. “Let me help you, sweet mate,” I whispered into his ear. “What would you like?”

“Just jerk me off.” Kit gasped. “I can’t last for anything else.”

“As you wish.”

We made short work of getting my mate’s dick out.

“You feel so good in my lap. You belong here, Kit.”

I kissed him thoroughly as I stroked his cock. I could taste myself in his mouth as I swept my tongue inside. Kit whimpered, trying to thrust his hips in a desperate attempt to get more. I thought of drawing out the pleasure but decided I wasn’t going to leave him hanging. If nothing else, I didn’t have the patience at that particular moment.

Kit came, spurting semen on my hands and our shirts.

I felt my dick twitch in interest when he cried out my name.

I kissed Kit and rocked him, treasuring the feel of his weight in my arms while he came down from his orgasm.

“Mm, that was mind blowing.” Kit sighed, slurring his words like he had downed a six-pack of beer.

“I know, love.”

“I’m not your love yet,” he protested weakly. “But you are my mate.”

“Yes, my mate.” Something primitive inside of me made me feel like beating my chest in victory, or something like that anyway. “We’ll get it right soon, Kit. Even though you have lived in a pack most of your life, I will still take things slow for you, to get used to me.”

“I don’t like too slow,” he complained. “You’re my mate. I know what it is to live with shifters and I have seen other mates. I really don’t need to wait, Leo.”

“Yes, I am your mate.” I kissed him again. “But we will go slowly for just a little bit. Could you just entertain my crazy idea for a little bit?”

Kit appeared to be thinking about my request deeply. He sighed heavily. “Oh. Alright. But as I said, I do not want to go at a glacial pace. I may not be a shifter but I was raised with other shifters and treated equally to them. I have the same expectations for mating as the others in my pack.”

I nodded. “I understand and thank you for accepting my request. For now, though, I am hungry and I would like to tell the whole world that you are my mate.” I threaded my fingers through his hair, gently, trying to smooth it out. “You are one amazing man, Kit, and I look forward to knowing you more. I can’t wait for the moment that I can claim you properly.”

“Right back at you, Leo.”

This time Kit pressed a chaste kiss on my cheek and it was still so fucking sexy.