STORY EXCERPT

“Yes, I swear it,” I said with a soft smile. “I’m not crazy. I’m telepathic.”

“You thought you were crazy? Oh hell, please tell me you didn’t believe Alpha Peter when he said you were schizophrenic?”

“Yeah, I did.” I shrugged. “But we all talked, and they’re going to give you my release papers that you can send to the High Council if they ever beat me or let others use me.”

“Good,” she said, narrowing her eyes at Declan. “And I won’t hesitate to do it if you ever lock him up like that again either.”

“We were trying to protect him.” Declan sighed. “I thought he had stuff to do in that room. We weren’t trying to punish him.”

“Okay, I believe you,” Dorothy replied after a moment. Then she leaned into me and whispered so they couldn’t hear. “Are you sure you want to show them the studio?”

“How did you know?” I whispered back.

“Because you only smile like that when you’re going down to work,” she smiled and gave me another quick kiss on the cheek. “You boys run along, and I’m going to make lasagna for dinner. If I make your favorite, you have to promise to eat and get some meat on those bones.”

“Yes, ma’am.” I giggled as we left the kitchen. Ian kissed my forehead gently before we went down into the basement. “I could get used to this kind of treatment.”

“I’ll carry you around always,” Ian said, getting choked up. “Just don’t ever scare me like that again and make it to where I have to carry you.”

“I won’t, I swear. I am sorry,” I replied as I moved to kiss his lips softly. “I didn’t know anyone cared, but now that I do, I promise I’ll stick around.”

“Good, because there’s a lot more to life than you’ve ever been shown and we want to give it to you,” he whispered in my ear as we reached the basement. I pointed to the back corner. When we got there, I tapped his arm so he’d let me down. I moved around and pulled off the tarps that I had covering my work so it looked like storage instead of a hidden studio.

“Fuck, these are amazing, Carson.” Taylor gasped as he picked up my painting of the Alpha house. “Where did you learn to do this?”

“You mean did I have any training?” I asked, giggling when he nodded. “No one taught me how to paint. I just picked up a pencil one day and started drawing when I was a kid.”

“Who knew our gorgeous love was so talented,” Declan said as he stared at a landscape of the pack lands. “I can’t get over how gifted you are, baby.”

“Thank you, but that’s not what I wanted to show you,” I replied as my face heated up. I pulled a canvas out from behind a stack of blanks and handed it to him. It was a smaller one, about two feet by two feet. Declan gasped as he took it from me. “See, I saw you that day, too.”

“Shit! He could be looking in a mirror,” Ian whispered as he moved next to our Alpha. I’d painted a portrait of each of them, Declan was holding his. I wasn’t lying. I had seen them that first day at the Omega claiming ceremony with Alpha Peter. While they were staring at that one, I pulled out the paintings of Ian and Taylor.

“I thought you three were the most gorgeous men I’d ever seen,” I said softly as I handed them their portraits. “I was so sad that I couldn’t paint you right away. It was a couple of months until Dorothy helped me set this up in secret. But these were the first things I did when I moved in here.”

“Can I keep mine?” Ian sniffled as he glanced up at me. “This is coolest thing anyone’s ever done for me. I’d really like to hang mine in my room if that’s okay with you?”

“You really like it? You’re not creeped out that I’m some stalker or something?”

“We took over an entire pack to be with you and keep you safe. And you’re worried we think you’re a stalker from a gorgeous painting?” Ian said with a laugh as he gently put his painting down as if it was made of glass. Before I could even reply, he lifted me up and swung me around the room. “You can’t stalk the willing, baby. I love you, and I think you’re truly gifted.”

“Thank you,” I whispered as I started to get choked up with emotions. I wrapped myself around him, nuzzling his neck in a very wolf-like gesture as I memorized his scent. “I’m glad you like them.”

“I think we should move your studio to one of the sitting rooms that has a lot of light,” Declan said as he kissed my cheek. “If that’s what you want, I mean?”

“I want to see a movie,” I answered instead, taking another leap. “I’ve never been to a movie theater, and I really want to.”

“We’ll go as soon as you’re feeling better and healed,” he replied with a wide smile. “Anything else?”

“Can we go to a restaurant? I’ve never been to one of those either.” I was thrilled down to my toes that they were wanting to do things with me.

“We can go anywhere you want, baby,” Taylor said as he leaned over and kissed my other cheek. “I’m sure there are lots of restaurants in Chicago for you to try out.”

“We should do, like, a date night once a week.” Declan smiled widely at all of us as if he was proud of his idea. I was just happy that they were trying so hard.

“That sounds perfect,” I whispered. “And yes, I’d love to have a studio with actual light instead of a lone lamp.”

ADULT EXCERPT

“Did I mention how much I liked your dance?” Declan nipped along my neck as he rubbed his hard cock against my thigh.

“Remind me to send a thank-you note to Rihanna.” I snickered as I tilted my neck to give him better access. “More, Declan. I need more.”

“As my little mate wishes,” he replied. Declan did as I asked and then shuddered against my body.

“What is it?”

“I–I never thought I’d get to call you my mate,” he admitted after a few deep breaths. “It feels even more amazing than I thought it would. I love Ian and Taylor, I do. They are my mates, too, and just as important to me as you are. But something was always missing until we met you. We all knew it even if we didn’t know what was missing. It was you, Carson. You make us a family.”

“And you guys are the family I always dreamed of but never thought I could have.” I let out a loud moan and knew it was time, I couldn’t take anymore teasing. “Declan, please, my mate. I’m ready. God, I’m so ready for you.”

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You won’t. I’m ready,” I begged, needing him inside me. Declan searched my face for a second before giving me a quick nod and pulling out his fingers. I whimpered when he sat back up, and I got a good look at his perfect cock standing at attention for me. He used the excess lube to slick up his cock and then lined it up with my hole.

“Tell me if you need me to stop, okay? If it ends up being too much, we can stop at any time.”

“I know that,” I whispered as I cupped his cheek. “And that’s one of the many reasons I love you. That’s just who you are. If I asked you to stop right now, you would without a single grumble and just go jack off in the bathroom. You’d never do anything that I wasn’t ready for.”

“That’s what it means to be in love.” Declan shrugged as if to say anyone would do the same. But they wouldn’t. And that made him even more special because he would never have thought it was a burden to stop right then. If it was what I needed, he’d do it, that simple.

“Make me your mate,” I panted, tilting my hips up trying to take him inside of me. He chuckled at my impatience and slowly pushed in my stretched hole. “This is what I wanted, someone to take me with love.”

“We can still have kinky sex sometimes though, right?” he asked as he stared at his cock moving in and out of me, working a little more in each thrust. “Please let him say yes because I have some very dirty ideas about his studio and using his paints on him.”

“Oh yeah, especially that idea about my paints.” I groaned and moved my hips up again. “I love the way your mind works.”

“I’m sorry you keep hearing everything,” he said as he bottomed out inside of me. “I don’t know how to stop those thoughts, and I’m worried I’ll scare you.”

“I’d be scared if I thought you were hiding things from me,” I replied honestly, trying to show him the truth of my statement with my eyes. I think he got it because he smiled softly and kissed me. Then he began moving after a few moments when my body opened up for him. Yeah, sex had never been like this before.

For one, I’d never been taken in this position, on my back while my partner stared down into my eyes. And it had never been gentle like this with passionate kissing.

“Where did you go?” Declan whispered as he stopped thrusting, his face scrunched together in concern. “Are you okay?”

“I’m perfect,” I answered as I leaned up to kiss him. When I lay back down, I wrapped my legs around his hips so he could move closer to me. He took the hint and slid his forearms under my shoulders. “I was just thinking that this was what I’ve always wanted. How sex has never been like this for me before. That I’m so glad it’s with someone I love.”

“I’m sorry that you’ve not had sex with love before. But is it wrong that I’m happy I’m the one showing you what making love really is?”

“No, not at all,” I answered gently as I thrust my hips up. “Less talking, more loving.”

“Yes, my mate.” He snickered and thrust into me a little harder. I groaned as I raked my short nails down his back. “Yeah, baby, mark me. Fuck, you feel like heaven.”

“Faster,” I panted, needing just a little more to come. Declan growled and picked up the pace of his thrusts. Just the feeling of his sac slapping the cheeks of my ass was enough to almost having me shooting my load. I wanted it to never end. We could spend the rest of our lives with his cock in my ass, right?

“Bite me, Carson,” Declan said firmly with a grunt a few minutes later. I knew I wasn’t the only one who was close. He leaned back enough where I had access to his chest. I didn’t even hesitate when my canines extended at the offer. I tilted my neck and bit into his left pec, right over his heart. Declan cried out loudly as my teeth sank deeper into his flesh.