STORY EXCERPT

“Stupid, arrogant cowboy,” Aiden muttered. Aiden remembered everything. The shifter’s devious smile, the strands of dark brown hair peeking from his hat, and those eyes. They glowed like tiny suns set in his face. Scary eyes but that didn’t scare him away.

He looked at the unlit cigarette stick he held between his fingers. He’d been trying to quit, but his brush with that sexy shifter left him shaken. This was on him. Aiden had a weakness for bad boys. Always did. He ended up getting hurt.

Same happened with his pig of an ex, Dan. Dan thought he was a badass. Dan was a fox shifter who rode a Harley, but Dan had nothing on this guy, this stranger who had pulled him close for a soul-shattering kiss only to shove him away.

Aiden took out his lighter, a heavy, metal square box carved with a snarling beast on the front. It used to be his grandfather’s. What the hell? His nerves were shot. Aiden still needed to get by for a few more hours until the bar closed at midnight. An hour or two of cleaning up after that.

He lit his smoke and inhaled. Aiden closed his eyes. That felt good, although guilt sat heavy in his chest. Aiden promised his best friend, Jerry, he’d finally quit this unhealthy habit. Aiden crushed his cigarette under his sneakers. If that annoying hot shifter was still in there, Aiden would give him a piece of a mind right after his second smoke.

Light hit his eyes. Aiden raised his hand to his face to see a dirty old van entering the narrow alleyway. They weren’t expecting any deliveries tonight. He waved his hands at the van.

“Hey, it’s a dead end. Back up,” he said. The van stopped right next to him. The driver lowered the window. Aiden took a hesitant step backwards as two pair of yellow eyes glowed in the darkened interior. Shifter, but he doubted this was the friendly kind. Run, a voice in his head whispered.

“Can you help us out? We’re lost,” said the driver.

Aiden looked at the sketchy van then back at the door which led to the bar’s kitchen.

The greasy-haired driver with the scar on his cheek leaned out the window and showed him his phone, which had a large crack right down the center. Seeing it was a GPS app, Aiden relaxed a little.

“My signal’s lost, see?” the driver said.

“Oh. No problem. Let me help you out. Where are you guys heading to?” Aiden asked, pulling his phone from the front pocket of his jeans. The hiss of the van’s sliding door made him look up. A pair of strong arms grabbed him by the armpits. His phone slipped from his fingers.

His mind refused to work, to connect the dots immediately until he could smell his kidnapper’s putrid and warm breath against his ear.

“It’s your lucky day,” said the growly voice.

The instinct to fight kicked in. Aiden lunged and hit at his captor, or he tried to. His efforts only earned him laughter from the shifters. Aiden twisted in the guy’s arms. No use. The bastard was inhumanly strong. The black interior of the van loomed closer and closer.

His captor groaned as he kicked at him.

“We got ourselves a fighter, boys,” said another voice from the van. Another pair of hands grabbed him. The darkness swallowed him up. Aiden remembered he could scream. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. Someone put a wet washcloth over his mouth. He tasted chemicals. Chloroform?

Oh God. These shifters didn’t look like they were from around town. They were the monsters living on Murder Mountain that parents warned their kids about. Some townies didn’t think they were real, but Aiden saw them a few times, like the cowboy who stole a kiss from him. Often, these shifters didn’t seem dangerous to Aiden at all because they mostly wanted to be left alone.

He had a feeling these maniacs were different.

Aiden sagged into his captor’s arms. He’d been tossed over one of the seats like a limp doll, his vision swaying. Aiden fought to remain conscious, terrified of the two ugly faces looking down at him, staring at him like he was free meat. His bladder felt uncomfortably full. They didn’t need ropes, not when his body was shutting down on its own.

“What are you planning to do with me?” Aiden’s tongue felt locked to the roof of his mouth, but he managed to spit out the words sluggishly.

The two shifters looked at each other, grinning. Aiden could make out the scars, the rake marks across their faces. His stomach felt queasy. These two bastards were twice, three times his size, almost as big as the cowboy who rejected him earlier tonight. Just one big difference. Around that cowboy, he felt safe. He knew that shifter wouldn’t hurt him, but these guys? They were different.

One of the assholes slapped him on his thigh.

“Our new Alpha wants to liven up our pride with some new toys.” The shifter’s touch felt repulsive as he moved his hand upward, right under Aiden’s shirt. He didn’t trust the look in the bastard’s eyes. He squirmed, tried to move away, but his body refused to obey his commands. That only earned him a punch to side of the face.

Shock and pain ripped through his skull. Aiden had never been hit before. That hurt like hell. He bit his lip, refusing to give these psychos the pleasure of hearing him in pain. Aiden closed his eyes as his mind shut down completely. Maybe this was all just one bad dream. When he woke up, he’d be back in his lonely apartment and in his own bed.

That was probably it.

ADULT EXCERPT

Aiden’s heart beat like the wings of a hummingbird. This was really happening. All those nights of sleeping alone in Ryder’s bed and having fantasies of Ryder slipping into bed with him and deciding to do whatever he wanted with Aiden disappeared. Aiden’s fears about Ryder losing interest in him hadn’t been unfounded after all.

Ryder closed the distance between them. The touch of skin against skin was too amazing for words. Ryder’s chest was like a solid rock wall. Ryder pinned his arms above his head and took his mouth again. Ryder’s prick curled up against his belly. It was thick, long and hard. He could already imagine Ryder slipping it right inside his ass. Would Ryder take him on all fours, like a beast? His face got red as the erotic image lingered in his head. Got stuck there.

“You should only be thinking about me,” Ryder growled out after the kiss.

“I am,” he whispered. Aiden took a deep breath and told Ryder about the filthy thoughts in his head.

The devil was in Ryder’s smile. The dominant werewolf left hot kisses down his neck, alternated them with his bites. Ryder’s hands felt rough and warm as he dragged them down the length of his body. Aiden’s skin burned fever hot. He burned for his wolf. Aiden wanted this more than anything. Ever since Ryder blew him in these very woods but didn’t fuck him, he kept hoping for a second time. Good thing he no longer had to wait.

Ryder planted one more kiss over his left chest, where his heart beat fanatically for his sexy cowboy.

Ryder closed his fingers over Aiden’s dick and began to work him, slow motions. Fast ones. Aiden’s breath hitched. All that time, Ryder watched him like a wolf. A shudder swept through his entire body. It didn’t take long for the pressure building inside him to burst. Aiden came, spilling his jizz all over Ryder’s waiting fingers.

Aiden slumped against the tree for balance.

“That was amazing,” he whispered.

“That? I haven’t even fucked you yet. Come here.”

The command in Ryder’s voice sent a shiver of anticipation down his spine. He went to Ryder, who still had that grin on his lips. Ryder tugged him close and whispered in his ear, “All fours, kitty. Ass in the air. I want to fuck you deep and hard, just like you want.”

Aiden got on his hands and knees. He pressed his chest and shoulders to the fallen leaves on the ground. Ryder picked up something from the back pocket of his jeans. Lube. What an embarrassing position, and yet Aiden was more turned on than ever. Even if he just came earlier, his cock woke up again. One of the benefits of being a shifter, he supposed.

“Were you always carrying that around?” he asked.

A stab of jealousy swept through him. A guy like Ryder would have plenty of ex-lovers. Wait. Why was he thinking about this now? Aiden always let his insecurities get to him. He wants us, said the smug new voice in his head. Only us. It was the other who spoke. His panther. Aiden was slowly coming to terms with the beast, was on a path to acceptance.

It was Ryder who had taught him, assured him he wasn’t like Price or his crazy panthers even if Price was the one who bit him.

“In case of emergencies. For times like these,” Ryder answered.

“Do you—” Aiden faltered, but he had to say it. God, he’d sound like some jealous lover, and it wasn’t like Ryder was his boyfriend or anything like that. Yet. The human in him might be unsure, but the panther in him wasn’t. The big cat was confident it was only Ryder for them. Their wolf wasn’t going to look at anyone else.

“Do I what?” Ryder uncapped the lube, applied plenty on his fingers, then moved behind him. Aiden felt Ryder’s foot parting his thighs and it occurred to Aiden that like this, Ryder could see all of him. Balls, cock, and pink ass hole. He bet his face and neck were redder than ever.

He made his brain work. “Have lube all the time just in case.”

“Is that jealousy I hear in your voice, kitty?”

Aiden cringed and was glad Ryder couldn’t see his expression. It turned out he had nothing to worry about, because Ryder slapped his ass, making him jump.

“That’s so fucking sexy, but you don’t need to worry. There was never anyone serious before, until you. You understand, kitty? There’s no one else but you for me.”

“Why is that?” he asked.

“Because you’re my mate. Haven’t you figured that out already?”

He couldn’t remember what he wanted to say next, because Ryder slid one wet finger inside his hole and added another. Aiden moaned as Ryder began to make twisting motions. His wolf widened him for access while his dick continued to get hard.

“Fuck me already.” The crass words out of his mouth shocked him a little, but what did it matter? With Ryder, all his inhibitions seemed to fly out the window. Shame no longer mattered, not when Ryder made him feel so good.

Ryder finally replaced his digits with his cock. His wolf gripped his ass cheeks. Ryder didn’t push in immediately. He left smears of pre-cum over the globes of Aiden’s ass, his crack. Ryder was marking him the way a wolf claimed territory, he realized, heart racing.

Was it wrong he found that dirty and erotic?

He parted his legs wider, at an obscene angle now. Hearing Ryder’s rumble of what sounded like approval made him feel good. He gasped as Ryder finally penetrated him. Ryder went slow, eased his dick inside Aiden’s ass. He breathed hard, heard Ryder grit his teeth behind him.

“That’s it, baby, take all of me. I know you can. Your ass feels amazing,” Ryder said.