STORY EXCERPT

Teddy was beautiful. Smith had never thought such a word would fit for a man, but he was. He wasn’t just beautiful either. He was gorgeous. Despite living out in the woods, away from soft beds, soaps, and other things that made life easier, he was beyond lovely.

His blond hair shone in the moonlight, and he had gray eyes the likes of which Smith was sure that he’d never seen before in his entire life.

Once, when Teddy had been bringing Smith some water, Smith had been unable to look away. He’d had to look into those eyes, to see every color, and every detail.

Within those gray orbs, there were flecks of green, like blades of grass.

It was sentimental and stupid, but Smith had taken to keeping three small blades of grass inside his pocket, pulling them out, and looking at them whenever Teddy wasn’t within sight. They were the exact shade of the tiny spots of color in Teddy’s eyes, so it helped to calm his inner wild beast.

Of course, he’d also made Teddy uncomfortable when he’d stared like that. Their eyes had met, and Teddy had frozen, as though in fear of what Smith might do to him if he didn’t back away quickly.

Which was what he’d done. After the link that had held them together finally seemed to snap, Teddy backed off. He’d gone back to stand or walk with the alpha, and he’d barely made eye contact with Smith since then.

Smith didn’t mind. He was more focused on watching how Logan interacted with his omegas and the alphas who served him.

It was best for him to learn how the dynamic of this pack worked. That could keep him alive if he could find a way of navigating it.

But he couldn’t look away from Teddy.

He hadn’t touched the man since that first day when they’d met.

Teddy had slipped and fallen as he and his alpha had followed Smith back to the lodge, and Smith had used that as an excuse to reach out and grab onto his hand, pulling him back up.

Smith had already wanted to touch Teddy, and it had been the perfect excuse. It had also allowed him to feel the sizzling heat that had shot up his arm and into his spine, behind his eyes and ending in white pops that were almost like fireworks.

He wanted more of that. He had yet to get it, and every day that Smith spent with this pack, his lust was getting to be worse. He found himself pulling at the chains more and more often. Not enough to be noticeable, but just enough to test them.

He was constantly searching for weak points, hoping to break the links so that he could go over there and take what was his.

The wolfhound inside of Smith was becoming more and more growly. It wanted its mate, and it was being driven insane by the simple fact that it couldn’t have it. It was painful, and not just emotionally. Smith was starting to lose it.

A week of this. A week of seeing his mate so close, of smelling of him, of being given water to drink by him and eating the food that Teddy cooked, was enough to make him go nearly feral.

And it was starting to affect Teddy, too.

From where he was sitting, chained to this thick tree, Smith could see the way that Teddy struggled not to look at him, but he could also see the light sheen of sweat that was forming on Teddy’s forehead. That seemed to be there quite a bit lately. It was getting to him, too.

Smith wanted to call out to him, to convince Teddy to come over here and let Smith touch him. It didn’t have to be sexual though that was the preferred way of easing this ache.

Smith needed to have his mate beside him. Otherwise his wolf was going to lose its damned mind.

“Teddy,” Logan said, stepping into the clearing from the darkness of the trees.

Teddy jumped, shocked at being pulled out of his thoughts.

Apparently, he’d been getting quite lost in them as of late.

Teddy glanced hesitantly over at Smith, wiped his hands on his torn jeans, and got to his feet.

“Yes, Alpha?”

“Come with me,” Logan said, crooking a finger and then walking back into the darkness from whence he came.

Smith’s mind immediately went to the worst possible conclusion.

“Don’t you fucking touch him,” he hissed, straining against the chains.

Alpha werewolves were known to fuck omegas who smelled like they wanted sex, regardless of whether or not they were mated.

Teddy had been smelling like he’d needed to be claimed by his mate ever since Smith had met him and the others in his pack. Smith wouldn’t put it past this alpha to do something to Teddy now that the scent of lust had been around for so long.

Logan glanced at Smith and raised a single brow in a way that made Smith want to punch him in the face.

Then he turned his attention back to Teddy. “Come on. Get up,” he said, and then walked away.

And Teddy looked...so worried. He shot Smith a concerned glance before he followed his alpha into the dark woods, beyond the point where even Smith’s incredible eyesight could see him.

He growled and pulled against his chains. Smith yanked on them hard enough that the silver really started to dig into his flesh, and his skin burned hotter from the silver.

He was only half a werewolf, but it was still enough that he was affected by the silver.

Or maybe all shifters suffered from this. Didn’t know, didn’t care. Smith knew his inner animal was losing its damned mind, and he needed to do something before Teddy was raped in the woods and claimed by that asshole.

“Come back here!” Smith roared.

ADULT EXCERPT

“Spread your legs for me. I’m not through with you yet,” Smith said.

Teddy’s legs were already spread for him. The man spread them wider, wide enough for Smith to settle himself comfortably between them.

The chains around Smith’s body weren’t cold. The metal absorbed the heat of his body, but Smith still flinched when they touched him, as though they were about to magically jump to life and spring onto Teddy’s body as well as Smith’s.

“I got you,” Smith said, kissing Teddy’s mouth, and then his jaw. His wolf wanted to comfort his mate, even when Smith was the one wearing chains in this scenario. “I got you.”

Teddy relaxed, and he seemed to breathe a little easier.

Smith wasn’t going to waste any more time. He opened the bottle of moisturizer, or lotion, whatever it was. His wolfhound was taking control and the only thing it knew was that this would make it easier for its mate.

Smith slicked his fingers. He didn’t stop there. He spread some of the lotion around Teddy’s asshole. This time, Teddy did hiss from the cold.

Smith chuckled. Teddy seemed to forget about the cold very quickly because then he was glaring up at him. “Hurry up.”

Was that a growl he detected in Teddy’s voice?

Smith’s wolfhound responded in the most pleasant way, amused that his omega mate could even think that he would be enough to threaten Smith in any way, shape, or form. The creature let out a huffing sound that could only be a laugh. Smith laughed with it.

“No laughing, just do it,” Teddy said.

But as Smith pushed two fingers inside that tight, warm hole, he knew it would take more than this.

Teddy was tight all right. The man hissed and clenched his asshole around Smith’s fingers, as though he hadn’t expected that intrusion to happen at all.

Weird.

The thought fled his mind. The only thing Smith could focus on was finishing, on taking his mate and claiming him like he’d needed to do ever since he’d first laid his eyes on the man.

“Relax and push out. You know how to do this, right?”

“Uhm, yes,” Teddy said.

Smith would apologize for embarrassing the man later. At the moment, he was a little preoccupied with making sure that Teddy was full and well prepared.

It seemed to take a minute or so before Teddy’s body was able to take Smith’s two fingers more easily. Smith squeezed more lotion onto his hand and then tested out adding a third finger.

Teddy clenched his neck and body, but he managed to keep himself from tightening his hole too much.

That was good. That was very good. Smith was proud of him.

And pleased and horny and so many other things he could burst.

And then Teddy was humping his hips forward, trying to pull Smith’s fingers even deeper inside of himself, and Smith moaned.

Teddy answered with a frustrated sound of his own. “Please, no more. I can’t take waiting anymore. I want to come!”

“Can’t you?” Smith asked, pushing his fingers deeper, finding that spot within his mate that made the man’s eyes bulge.

Teddy should have had an orgasm right then and there considering how long Smith held his fingertips to that hard, spongy spot.

But no, Teddy didn’t come. He bucked and moaned loudly, as though he was coming, as though he was having the best orgasm of his life, but nothing spurt from his cock.

Which was about when Smith realized what the sound actually was.

Pleasure mixed with frustration and a whole lot of desperation. Teddy couldn’t come. Apparently not for a lack of trying either, but it seemed as though no matter what he did, he couldn’t have an orgasm.

Smith knew this for a fact when his mate tried to grab onto his cock so that he could jerk himself off, and still nothing happened.

“Oh God! I can’t…I can’t…” Teddy panted, shaking his head from side to side.

Maybe it was because of the mating. They’d been around each other for so long that Teddy actually did need Smith inside of him before he could come.

Smith was basing that on jack shit, but it seemed to make sense to his lust desperate brain, because watching his mate squirm and buck and moan was the best kind of pornography he could have ever seen, and his wolfhound was definitely affected by this as well.

“I got you, baby,” Smith said, and he pulled his finger free. Time to do this. He’d already waited long enough, and Smith’s cock and balls were starting to hurt more than just a little from the wait.

He could only imagine what Teddy was feeling. He had to rectify that. A good alpha didn’t keep his mate in pain like that.

Smith barely took the time to make sure that his cock was well and truly slick before he pressed the dark and swollen crown to Teddy’s asshole.

He pushed against it hard, but Teddy had tensed his body again, so desperate for any sensation that he was clenching down on something that wasn’t there.

“Relax, relax, open up for me,” Smith said, stroking Teddy’s legs, trying to calm him like he would try to calm a wild animal.

Even pressing the head of his dick against Teddy’s hole was enough to bring him the kind of pleasure that he was desperate for, but like Teddy, he’d hit a wall, and he suddenly knew that he wouldn’t be able to come from it.

“Come on, sweetheart, you can do it.”