STORY EXCERPT

It wasn’t unusual to get called into work late at night. In fact, for Andrew Brady, it was all part of the job working for a secret subsection of MI6 that dealt solely in shifter matters. That didn’t make him any less pissed off about it. He walked from the Aldgate East underground station to Wicker Street in Whitechapel, lamenting the loss of his Friday night.

He had been in his local pub with a couple of friends, playing a rousing game of Civilization when he got the call. His friends were used to him bailing on them last minute. In fact, he was pretty sure they thought he had a secret lover, someone who was married or in the closet.

He came to a row of nondescript office buildings in Wicker Street that housed a number of businesses. To a regular person walking by, there was nothing of note about them.

He used his electronic pass to enter the accountancy agency everyone in his life thought he worked for. There were a few people still hard at work, keeping up the facade by taking on actual accounting jobs.

“Good evening,” one of them said to him as he walked straight over to the elevator.

He nodded at the man whose name he couldn’t remember and used his pass to unlock a hidden panel inside the elevator once inside. Placing his palm on the scanner unlocked a second hidden panel with a button to access the underground levels where C.L.A.W. was housed.

The Covert Law and Order Shifter Division had been shorted to C.L.A.W. sometime in the early fifties, no doubt because someone found it amusing.

“Hold the elevator,” a smooth voice called out.

The last thing Andrew needed right now was to be in close proximity with Lane Roberts, special agent, leopard shifter, and all round incorrigible flirt. He was far too tired to keep up his defenses.

He rushed to push the Close Door button, but he wasn’t quick enough. Lane Roberts, aka his worst nightmare, slipped easily in between the closing doors and greeted Andrew with a cocky grin.

“Evening.”

He was wearing a tailored dark blue suit with his pale blue shirt undone at the top. Andrew couldn’t help wondering where he had been, and more importantly, who he had been with. He’d long since given up pretending that he didn’t care.

“You’re not supposed to go down on me—with me,” Andrew quickly amended, his cheeks going a little red. Most fox shifters were considered cunning, and he was when it came to his work, but in his personal life, he was something of a mess.

Shit

He hated the look of delight on the arrogant agent’s face. Lane knew how bloody attractive he was, and he always seemed to enjoy using it to rankle Andrew and make his job harder. For men like Lane Roberts, their sex appeal was a weapon, and he used it often just because he could.

Andrew steadfastly tried to ignore the tall dark-haired field agent and the grin he knew was spreading over his face.

Lane seemed to feed off Andrew’s discomfort. It seemed to only spur him on.

“You know what I mean,” Andrew said, hating the fact that he sounded like a nag. “It’s against protocol.”

“And you certainly are a stickler for protocol,” Lane said, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back against the wall.

Andrew chose to ignore the jibe. He would rise above it, even though he was in the right. Rules were there for a reason. They were designed to keep the agency a secret.

The two of them stood in silence as the elevator went down. It felt like it took longer than usual to reach the bottom level. Andrew was acutely aware of the fact Lane was watching him the whole time. When Lane Roberts decided someone was worth his attention, it ended in only one of two ways, with a bed or with a bullet. Andrew tried not to twitch under the intense scrutiny.

The moment the elevator doors opened Andrew darted out, hoping to get away from the other man. He was unsuccessful, however, as Lane easily fell into step beside him.

“We’ve both been called in late on a Friday night,” Lane said, stating the obvious. “Must be something serious.”

They had worked together for the better part of two years, but while Lane Roberts was a field agent, Andrew spent the majority of his time at a desk behind the safety of his computer.

“Astute as ever,” Andrew said. He couldn’t seem to help himself where Lane was concerned. The leopard shifter just riled him up, and for some reason, Andrew’s harsh brush-offs only seemed to fuel him.

“I do hope you didn’t have any plans for this evening,” Lane said, his mouth a little too close to Andrew’s ear. “Like a date perhaps.”

Andrew stopped walking and turned to face his tormentor. He knew when he was being made fun off. “What I do in my spare time, Agent Roberts, is of no concern to you.”

ADULT EXCERPT

He walked Andrew backwards out the door, their kiss never breaking once. If his arm wasn’t injured, he might have picked Andrew up.

Together the two of them fell back on the bed with Lane on top. He wasted no time in slowly kissing a trail down Andrew’s body. His pale chest was flushed a subtle pink, and his nipples were two hard nubs begging to be licked.

Andrew hissed in pleasure as Lane swirled his tongue around one of them while his fingers gently pinched the other. Lane felt as if he’d been given a gift. Every whimper and moan made him ache.

One day soon he would spend a whole hour just on Andrew’s nipples alone, if Andrew let there be a next time.

He looked up at the other man, watched the way his eyes darkened from green to almost black as Lane placed gentle kisses lower and lower, from his chest to his stomach, until he was eye level with Andrew’s cock.

The appendage was long and slender, just like Andrew. It was flushed red and curved gently up, every bit the extension of Andrew.

“Lane,” Andrew said, his word coming out like a whisper.

That wouldn’t do. He was going to need Andrew to be a lot louder than that.

With a wicked smirk, Lane sent his lover a wink before slowly lowering his head and licking over the head of Andrew’s cock. Flavor burst on his tongue, and he groaned, desperate for more. He opened his mouth and took Andrew in, loving how Andrew’s silky, hot cock felt in his mouth. He was good at sucking cock, not just because he’d had plenty of practice but because he loved it. He loved having such power over the pleasure his partners experienced.

Andrew’s cock was another thing he wanted to spend an hour teasing, bringing him close to the edge and then stopping until he calmed down.

He couldn’t have taken this slower if he tried right now. He’d waited so long for Andrew, and they were both so worked up from the adrenaline of the night.

“Fuck, Lane,” Andrew cried out as Lane stroked his finger down over his balls and along the seam of his arse.

Lane took Andrew down his throat and swallowed around him, loving the sounds that spilled from the fox shifter’s mouth.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Andrew shouted, his body bowing beautifully.

Lane pulled off him slowly with a wet pop and placed a kiss on the inside of his thigh.

“I want to fuck you,” Lane told him, his voice that of a desperate man. “Please say I can.”

“God yes,” Andrew said, already turning over onto his stomach. “Do you have lube and condoms? What am I saying? Of course you do.”

Lane chuckled and got off the bed to retrieve the items from his wash bag. “Always be prepared, that’s my motto.”

He wanted to suggest that they didn’t need the condom because they were shifters and couldn’t catch any diseases, but it would make for easier cleanup. It was another thing for him to look forward to, marking Andrew inside with his seed.

“Do you feel more comfortable on your front?” Lane asked. He wanted Andrew to be relaxed, and he wanted to fuck him in whatever position he preferred, but he also wanted to look into his eyes.

“It’s been a while for me,” Andrew told him, looking over his shoulder at Lane. “I thought it’d be easier.”

Lane covered his back, trailing a line of kisses along his shoulder blades. He nibbled his way down Andrew’s spine until he was face-to-face with the most perfectly round arse he’d ever had the pleasure of fucking.

“God, you’re so fucking gorgeous,” Lane told him, dragging his teeth over one of the fleshy globes.

Andrew pushed his arse up, his hips circling in a clear invitation. “Lane, come on.”

There was a desperate whine to his voice that was like catnip for Lane’s cock. He wanted to take him apart with just his tongue. There was so much he wanted, but now wasn’t the time. He didn’t know how long they had before they were called into action again. All he could hope was that there would be many more times to come.

He tore open the condom wrapper with his teeth and rolled it on. He gave the aching flesh a few strokes in an attempt to appease it. His cock would have to wait. Hell, it had waited two years. It could wait a little longer.

He dribbled some lube from the bottle right down Andrew’s crack and over his hole, making the fox shifter flinch.

“Ah, that’s cold, you bastard,” Andrew said, though his tone lacked heat.

Lane smirked and placed an apologetic kiss on one of Andrew’s cheeks. “Sorry.”

“No you’re not,” Andrew said with a laugh. He bent one of his legs at the knee, giving Lane better access to him.

Lane chuckled and dragged his finger through the lube running over Andrew’s hole. “I promise I’ll make it up to you.”