STORY EXCERPT

Before Zamar could recover from what just happened, someone pounded on his door. He clutched the clothes even tighter to his chest. He didn’t need company right now. He had an eight-hundred-pound bear sprawled out on his floor like a living, breathing bear rug.

Except this lump of fur snored slightly.

Zamar placed the wadded-up clothes on the coffee table, which was still smashed against the couch from Silvio’s tremendous weight pushing it aside, and headed for the window. He peeked out past his curtains and saw his friend standing at his door, his arms folded, his foot tapping.

Sasha would keep banging on the door until Zamar answered. His friend was a bit quirky and off-putting at times, but he was a good guy. He just had some idiosyncrasies that drove Zamar bonkers. Like pounding on someone’s door instead of ringing the damn bell.

He was also human and knew nothing about the preternatural world. How on earth was Zamar going to explain a bear in the middle of his living room?

Zamar hurried to the door but didn’t open it. “I can’t talk right now, Sasha. I have a cold, and I don’t want to give it to you.” He even faked a cough for good measure.

In truth, Zamar wanted to open the door. Sasha came over every day, and Zamar couldn’t deny the electric attraction he felt towards his friend.

He wanted to open that door and finally act on it, but he feared it would ruin their relationship if Sasha didn’t return his feelings. But damn, there were times when Zamar wanted to climb all over the guy.

“You’re so full of shit,” Sasha called out. “I just left here last night and you were fine. Stop playing around and open up. I left my wallet here, and I need it.”

Crap and double crap. Zamar looked around, hoping he saw the wallet lying out in the open where he could quickly retrieve it and hand it through the mail slot on his door, but of course, he wasn’t that lucky.

“Seriously, Zamar. Open up. I need my wallet.”

Zamar pressed the heel of his hand into his eye. This could not be happening. His best friend had the worst timing. “Where do you think you lost it? I’ll look.”

He spun and glanced at the couch. They’d spent a few hours curled up on it, on separate ends, watching a movie last night. The wallet had to be somewhere in the cushions. Sasha had gone to the kitchen a few times and had used the bathroom, but Zamar would have seen a wallet on the floor if Sasha had lost it in one of those rooms. He’d been in both the kitchen and bathroom this morning before Silvio had appeared in his living room.

“Hang on!” Zamar shot to the couch, but he couldn’t get the coffee table far enough away. It had pushed the couch against the wall, so Zamar climbed over the arm and starting digging in the cushions.

The front door opened. He’d forgotten to lock it last night after Sasha had left. That was his own fault. Sasha kept getting on him to lock his door, but Zamar never did. After all, they lived in a small town and that should have been enough security. Or so he thought before he’d met Sasha. 

Sasha closed the door behind him. “What’s with you this morning? Why’re you acting all weird? I swear, if you–” He stopped mid-sentence when his gaze landed on Silvio’s bear. “Zamar, when I said you needed protection because of your brother harassing you, I meant an attack dog or alarm system. I wasn’t talking about a bear that is bigger than your living room. How did you…what the…”

“You’re hallucinating. None of this is real.” Zamar jammed his hand between the cushions where Sasha had been sitting and felt something hard. He yanked his hand back, Sasha’s wallet clutched in his fingers. “Ah ha! Got it!”

His best friend simply stood there, his lips parted, his eyes wide, staring at the snoring bear. Zamar jumped off the couch and opened the door a crack, fearing someone walking by would see a bear lying in a heap on his floor. “Okay, here’s your wallet. Call me later and we’ll hang out.”

Sasha moved forward a few steps and looked down at the slumbering creature. “You really have a bear on your floor, Zamar, and it snores.”

“It’s definitely an armchair that just happens to look like a bear. You remember how I mentioned that I wanted one? Well, this is it.” Zamar desperately prayed that Sasha would be taken in by his lie.

“Looks at its huge paws. Holy fuck! Have you ever seen claws that long and sharp? I bet it could rip through us like we’re nothing more than candy wrappers. I bet, if I put its paw against my face, it would cover the whole thing and then some.”

“Let’s not find out if that’s true.” Zamar shoved the wallet against Sasha’s chest, but his friend wouldn’t take it.

He turned to Zamar with wide eyes. His mouth was left agape, and he waved his finger at the bear as if it might give an explanation for its presence. “What in the hell is going on? Why do you have a record-breaking-sized bear in your house?” He frowned. “Is it tame, or will it wake up and attack us? Wait, it’s summer, so it shouldn’t be hibernating. Bears don’t hibernate in homes. They do that in caves. Did one wander here from the national park? Even if it did, why would it be sleeping on your floor?”

Sasha’s confusion was palpable, as he scratched his head while trying to make sense of the situation, because clearly his mind couldn’t cope with seeing a bear in someone’s house.

“He’s a family pet,” Zamar lied.

Sasha looked at him with creased brows. “This is a family pet? What else do you have, jaguars and wolves? People don’t own bears for pets, Zamar. What’s going on here?”

ADULT EXCERPT

Without knocking, Sasha walked into the room. Already Zamar was in bed, his back to the door. With a sigh, Sasha sat on the bed. “Okay, spill. You’ve never been this quiet, Zamar. Tell me what’s going on in that bunny head of yours.”

Zamar sat up so fast that Sasha became unbalanced and nearly dropped to his ass on the floor. “It’s not you,” Zamar said.

“Are you really giving me that speech?” Maybe Sasha really had done something wrong. The tables really had turned. Sasha was usually the one to say it to the guys he’d dated, and now Zamar was saying it to him.

Zamar rubbed his forehead. “It’s late evening, Sasha.”

“And?”

“What do people do at night?”

Sasha wasn’t following the bread crumbs. “They sleep?”

Zamar rolled his eyes.

“Look, I’m the kind of person you have to spell shit out for,” Sasha said. “I don’t read minds, and I’m horrible at taking cues. I don’t pick up on subtle hints, and I don’t interpret feelings. I suck at all of that, so just tell me what I did wrong so we can try and fix it.”

“Sex,” Zamar said with a hiss. “Sex, Sasha. Three guys, naked, in the bed, or wherever, doing the nasty. Three guys, Sasha.”

This was why Sasha didn’t do feelings. “I’m still not following.”

“You really are dense.” Zamar shoved at his shoulder. “I’m nervous about the three of us having sex.”

“Oh…Oh!” Thank god it wasn’t anything serious. For a second there, Sasha thought the guy was about to dump him, even though Zamar had said there was no such thing with mates. “See, I’m dense as shit.” He knocked his fist against his head.

“I thought for a second you were going to make me draw it for you.”

Sasha wiggled his brows. “I still want you to. I want to see how you imagine us doing the nasty.” He scooted closer, one leg bent on the bed, one foot planted on the floor. “Want me to show you?”

Zamar just stared at him. Sasha saw now he was going to have to take charge if he wanted to get this ball rolling. “Take your clothes off.”

Zamar sputtered. “You can’t just blurt that out.”

“Yes I can,” Sasha growled, crossing his arms over his chest as he met Zamar’s gaze with a challenging stare. “Take them off. Now.”

With an inward huff, Zamar slid out of the bed, removing each article of clothing before tossing them onto the floor one by one. His skin seemed to glow in the soft light from the window, and Sasha couldn’t help but admire the sight of him. As soon as his boxers hit the floor, Sasha gestured for him to slide back into bed, joining him under the covers seconds later as his bare chests pressed against Zamar’s naked back.

Zamar stiffened beneath his touch, yet made no attempt to move away.

“If you want me to stop at any time, just say banana,” Sasha said as he pressed his lips to Zamar’s ear.

“Banana?” There was humor in Zamar’s tone.

“I’m trying to lighten the mood before Silvio comes in here.”

Zamar didn’t say a word, but neither did he relax. Sasha lay there holding the guy, his breath shallow, the beat of his heart loud in Sasha’s ears, the lift and fall of his chest a rhythm that matched Sasha’s own. He felt Zamar’s heat begin to slowly seep into him through their linked bodies, and it caused his skin to tingle. A pulse began to pound at the base of his cock between Zamar’s pert ass cheeks.

Sasha kneaded Zamar’s chest with his hands and spread his fingers wide so that they slid down the man’s sternum, then he lowered his hand over his mate’s flat abs. When Sasha’s fingertips traced over each dip in Zamar’s abdomen, his mate closed his eyes with a sigh. Sasha’s hand traveled lower, reaching Zamar’s groin.

He rubbed the hard shaft once, twice, and then slid his fingers along the sensitive ridge until Zamar groaned. 

Sasha felt a presence in the room before he turned his head and saw Silvio standing there. As if in slow motion, Silvio moved forward, probably hearing the entire conversation, and slipped in behind Sasha. A single finger trailed along Sasha’s exposed shoulder blade, leaving a trail of goosebumps in its wake..

Sasha trembled with anticipation, his heart beating out a sharp rhythm in his ears. He’d never been with two men at once before, and yet it felt like coming home. Every touch was more intimate than anything he had ever experienced before, each caress an electric current that sent ripples of pleasure through his veins. 

Sasha’s desire for Zamar and Silvio both unleashed a wild, insatiable hunger within him as he grazed his fingers over the head of Zamar’s cock and then played in the man’s pre-cum. He slid the clear liquid over his fingers, enjoying how it felt. Zamar’s breath was coming out in short gasps.

Sasha pressed his lips to the nape of Zamar’s neck and slid his tongue across the smooth expanse, tasting the salty skin as Silvio’s fingers curved around Sasha’s ass. Sasha wasn’t sure if he should press forward into the crease his cock was nestled in or push back into Silvio’s warm hand.