STORY EXCERPT

“Diesel,” Jim murmured.

Okay. He definitely wasn’t hallucinating. Forgetting about what he was working on, or the fact he was all covered in grease, Diesel suddenly found himself right in front of Jim. In the background, he heard something smash at a wall and Griffin swearing.

“Bishop. Fuck, that’s the second radio you broke this week,” Griffin said. 

Jim seemed frozen in place. Diesel didn’t know what made him eliminate the distance between them. He tipped Jim’s chin with his fingers and did what he fantasied about doing night after night since he left for shifter prison. He took Jim’s mouth without apology. 

Diesel started slow at first, tentative, feeling Jim out, pleased when Jim gripped his shoulders not to push him away but to kiss him back. The other werebears’ arguments faded. All that mattered was Jim’s tempting lean body, pressed up against his big one. Jim parted his mouth, a cue for him to slip his tongue down Jim’s throat. 

Jim tasted like he remembered. Like honey, like swallowing a bright dollop of sunshine. He only came out for air. By then, Jim planted a firm hand on his chest. The werefox’s eyes were wide. It seemed Jim had trouble breathing. 

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Jim blurted. “You’re getting grease all over my clothes.”

Hostility. Diesel expected that, but Jim not stopping the kiss, only now, told him plenty two things. The first, Jim still wanted him, craved him as much as Diesel did. The second, he still stood a chance. His hopes hadn’t been dashed away yet, not completely. 

“Aw shucks. Did you come all the way here to pay little old me a visit?” he asked.

“You know I didn’t. I told you last time I wanted nothing to do with you,” Jim blurted, but his fox couldn’t seem to say that with a straight face. Jim’s mouth was still swollen from their kiss, and color crept up Jim’s cheeks and neck. “I’m here for the murders.”

At those words, Griffin and Bishop stopped arguing in the background. Diesel let out a sigh. He should have known, truly, that Jim didn’t come all the way to their little town of Lily Valley for some random reason. 

“Agent Fox, I see you’re back,” said a new voice. Piston, his Alpha, appeared by the staircase leading to the second floor of the shop. How long he’d been standing there, Diesel didn’t know. His thoughts had been preoccupied by the taste of his mate. No. Not yet. Jim would deny that word with every breath in his body, and why wouldn’t he?

Diesel knew the damage he’d caused his fox. Back then, he’d been given two choices, either run away from everything and everyone, be with Jim, or testify against his former gang members. He’d been sorely tempted to take the first option, but if he took that route, they’d always be on a run, both from the Paranormal Government and members of his old gang. 

“Piston,” Jim said, straightening his rumpled tie. 

The temperature in the room spike. Jim, like the rest of them, probably sensed the waves of aggressive energy rolling off the Alpha. Although Piston only recently became Alpha, he was like any Alpha, protective of his own. Was Jim the enemy? Why did instinct make Diesel step in front of Jim and face the man he owed everything, including his life?

Without Piston and his crew, he would still be a nomad, fighting and drinking his way up and down the entire country. He’d be unstable, chaotic, and lawless. Eventually, he’d wind up hurting someone for real or turning back to his old ways. Before Jim entered his life, he didn’t possess a conscience. Diesel had stolen, killed, committed all kinds of crimes, and didn’t feel guilty one bit.

“Are you here to take one of my own?” Piston said, raising an eye at Diesel, as if silently asking ‘what the fuck are you doing?’

“Not at all.” His brave and foolish fox pressed a hand to his shoulder and stepped forward. Jim flashed him a scowl. “I don’t need your protection. I can hold my own in a fight, you know.”

If that was how Jim wanted to play it. Diesel shrugged, stepped aside. 

“Why are you here then?” Piston asked with a growl.

“To solve a murder. My boss suspects the killings are the work of surviving members of the Slasher Gang. I told her different.”

Diesel’s heart soared at those words. Thanks to Griffin’s mate, Ben, being the town sheriff, he’d been able to look at the last crime scene. What he saw made his stomach flop. So far, the two victims had been stragglers, tourists. If word got out a local had been killed, the entire town might explode. Even come after him once they learned he used to be part of that old gang. 

“Did you now? Griffin, kindly escort Agent Fox to the sheriff’s office. I’m sure he’d want to talk to Sheriff Miles,” Piston said.

“Wait. I’ll take him,” Diesel interrupted as Griffin began to usher Jim out the door.

“No. You’re too personally involved in this,” Piston said.

A growl slipped from Diesel’s lips as he glared at his Alpha. “I’ll keep my head on my shoulders.”

ADULT EXCERPT

Diesel knelt in front of Jim.

“W-what are you doing?” Jim asked, sounding uncertain.

Diesel didn’t answer. He hooked his fingers into Jim’s belt loops, tugged Jim’s pants down along with his boxers. “I’ve missed the taste of you,” he said simply.

Jim trembled as he peeled off his pants. Once they reached Jim’s ankles, Jim kicked them away. He leaned forward, pressed a kiss to the tip of Jim’s cock head, which leaked pre-cum. He swiped his tongue over the tip, paid attention to the sensitive base of Jim’s prick, relished every moan and groan that slipped from Jim’s lips.

Diesel wanted to see his fox come undone, to remind Jim what exactly he’d be missing out on. One night? Jim must be delusional, because Diesel wanted an entire lifetime. He’d figure out the logistics later. If they did become mates, would he need to leave this town, the clan, and the other werebears he’d grown to call brothers? 

For his mate? Diesel would do anything. Besides, someone had to keep a close eye on his fox, and the others would understand. They had mates, too, save Bishop, but he was pretty soon Bishop would find his soul mate one of these days.

“God,” Jim uttered. 

He reached for Jim’s balls with his hand, applied slight pressure to them as he opened his mouth and began to take Jim’s cock in. Diesel bobbed his head up and down, determined to see his fox come undone. Splintered. Knowing Jim was close, he pulled his mouth away, stood up, and sealed Jim’s mouth, letting Jim taste himself on his tongue. Jim responded to his kiss. One pinch to the tip of Jim’s dick did the trick. Jim let out a rasp as he withdrew from the kiss. Jim threw back his head and came, spilling his jizz all over his waiting fingers. 

Diesel watched in satisfaction as Jim’s expression turned languid, his body relaxed. 

“This is far from over,” he said.

“That’s right,” Jim said in an indolent voice. “You haven’t rutted me yet.”

“I want you on all fours. Prove to me how much you want my cock inside of you.

“Show and tell first.” 

Diesel grinned, unzipped his jeans, and took them off, along with his underwear. Jim widened his eyes, and Diesel chuckled softly. His fox’s reaction never got old. 

“You’re bigger than I remembered,” Jim murmured. 

“Get into position while I grab the lube,” he said. Diesel surveyed his living room and decided he wanted to fuck Jim there, in front of the fireplace. He gestured to the area. “Over there.”

“Bossy as ever. Aye, aye, captain.” 

Fuck, but he missed Jim’s snark. Diesel hadn’t lied. These past years had been the worst of his life. Being in the Four Claws clan helped keep his bear steady, but in truth? His heart remained in turmoil since he got out of shifter prison, and while he was serving time, he nearly went insane, because he knew deep down, he had to leave Jim behind. 

“You like me this way, admit it,” he said with a smile.

“I do,” Jim said. His admission was cream on the pie.

Diesel left for the bathroom, grabbed towels and the lube. When he returned, half of him expected Jim to leave but no. Jim was exactly where he wanted him to be, in front of his fireplace and on all fours. He could see Jim’s dick already hardening, ready for round two. The best part of both of them being shifters, he supposed, was that they recovered quickly.

Diesel took a couple of seconds, admiring Jim’s form. All his. His to take. Mine, his grizzly said with a snarl. 

“Mine,” he said in a guttural voice he hardly recognized. 

“I’m not yours, not completely,” Jim had the audacity to utter.

Didn’t his fox know that once Diesel plowed him, he’d set them on a path with no return? Once he gave Jim a taste of what he had to offer, Jim would crave no other man but him. There would only be him. Diesel placed a few logs in the fireplace, lit a match, and got a fire going for them. Then he placed towels underneath Jim.

That done, Diesel took position behind Jim, ran his hand down the length of Jim’s spine, the cleft between his buttocks. Jim shivered in front of him. The warmth emanating from the fireplace made Jim’s skin glow. Perfection.

It was time to remind Jim who owned his body, heart, and soul. 

* * * *

Jim’s heart raced as Diesel gripped his asscheeks apart. This was really happening. Jim could’ve put a stop to this any time he wanted, but he didn’t. The moment Diesel confronted him in that bar, he knew he’d lost the battle even before it had begun. Diesel had been right. For all his protests, his body said the exact opposite thing.

It had been so long for him. No, that wasn’t quite right either. Jim only yearned for one man to touch him, to claim him all over again. That was Diesel. With Diesel, the entire world could burn to cinders for all he cared. Diesel claimed this time was different. Part of him wanted to believe it, but he couldn’t. Not yet. 

Jim trusted too easily. His mother said that to him multiple times. It was one of his faults, but he couldn’t help himself.

“What are you thinking about?” Diesel said, suddenly standing in front of him. 

Jim sucked in a breath at the sight of that long, glorious cock that curved upwards, the tip leaking pre-cum. How many times had he imagined Diesel drilling him with that meaty cock, fucking him hard and rough, exactly like they both wanted, needed?

Diesel bent down, tipped his chin upwards. “Tell me the truth.”

“How can I trust you?”

“Trust what your heart, your inner fox’s telling you.”