STORY EXCERPT

Derick marched out of the cabin with his shoulders back and his head held high, despite how there was no one else around to see him.

When he slammed the door shut behind him, he crumpled.

He needed space. He needed to think.

That had been so much worse than he’d thought it would be.

Stupid Cane for looking just the way Derick remembered him. For still being handsome, for smelling the way Derick remembered.

For making Derick want him even after he did everything possible to make sure Derick hurt more than he ever had in his entire life.

He acted as though he had any reason to be angry when he was the one who’d given Derick over to Adam.

He was such a prick. He probably didn’t care that Derick’s parents were dead. Derick didn’t know why he’d thrown that out there.

It wasn’t like Cane had anything to do with it, but everything had gone to shit after Cane had left.

Maybe Derick did sometimes blame him. Maybe he did think that if Cane had stuck around his mom wouldn’t have fallen and his dad wouldn’t have followed her.

Whatever. He wasn’t in the mood to be generous to that dickhead.

There was a dock down the hill. Derick went there, walked along the dock, and sat at the edge. He looked down at the strap, still clutched tightly in his hand. He dropped it, his fingers unclenching and…

He wished he hadn't done that. Hitting Cane like that…it didn't feel good. Derick thought it would feel good when he got Cane where he wanted him, when he was able to show the other man what pain really was.

Derick wanted to make Cane hurt so much that the beating his brother gave to him would look like a tame spanking in comparison.

If he could barely hit Cane with a strap, then how in the hell was he going to go through…with the rest of it?

Derick looked down into the water. He could see a couple of little fish shadows swimming around in there.

The water was deep in the middle of the lake. Even right here.

If he killed Cane, it really would be a death sentence for him. Even kidnapping and torturing him like this, running away from Adam…Derick would be lucky to get only a hundred lashes and a few years in prison for that sort of thing, and everyone knew what happened to humans who went to prison.

Death would pretty much be a better outcome than…that.

Not that being with Adam had been such a freeing experience either.

And Cane had damned him to it. Cane was the one who’d left. Derick promised him he would go with him, that he would stand by his side. Even his parents had given their blessing, despite knowing it might mean never seeing their son ever again.

And instead, Cane just signed him over.

He left.

Derick raised his knees up. He felt so small, so tiny. The confidence he'd had when he'd tracked Cane here and took him hostage was gone. Now Derick was thinking about how it would be better to die than to go on.

That was so fucked up. Even now, he contemplated just making it easy on himself, going into the water and…

Derick shivered. He had no idea what he was supposed to do anymore.

* * * *

Cane looked around, searching for something, anything that could be of use to him.

There was so much. Derick hadn't been smart about his little walk out because now Cane was alone, his brain and body recovering from those drugs he doped him with, and with that, came his strength.

These measly little cuffs might hold a human, but not a dragon.

Cane put all of his focus into his hands. It was harder than he thought. The drugs were still taking their toll, but like Derick had said, it would have taken much longer for anyone other than a dragon to recover. He clearly wasn't thinking straight about his little revenge plot.

Cane eventually pulled out red scales. He felt them itch as his skin hardened, the pigment on his body changing. Then his wrists changed. They thickened.

Come on. Come on. He could do this. He was still a damned dragon. He could do this!

Which wasn't to say that it didn't hurt like a massive bitch in heat.

Cane clenched his teeth as his wrists became too thick for the cuffs. Blood flow was cut off, but then the scales did their thing, protecting him as he stretched out the metal until it finally snapped.

Cane sighed hard, his arms coming back around to the front of his body, blood flow rushing back through his wrists.

He rubbed at them, noting the indents in his scales.

Fuck, that had hurt more than he thought it would.

Cane growled. Where the hell did Derick go?

He went to the kitchen counter, bagging up all the stuff, seeing if there was anything else in there he could use in case Derick had more weapons on him.

He was going to wrap his hands around that perfect little neck and strangle him good.

Just as soon as his fingers stopped shaking. Maybe he didn’t have the strength he thought he did. At least he was out of those stupid cuffs.

Cane followed the scent of Derick out of the house. He was starting to pick up what Derick used to smell like, his scent before Adam had ruined him forever.

He shook his head, growling. No. He was not going to let himself think about that or dwell on what-ifs. This was about his revenge, plain and simple. He was going to get back at the little asshole for shooting him and tying him up then threatening to kill him.

ADULT EXCERPT

Cane's kiss was…something else. Derick lost all control of himself. He lost the ability to think about how completely messed up it was that he was kissing someone who had abandoned him.

Someone who’d left him to rot.

But it was good. So good that it made his eyes burn as Cane's tongue slipped between Derick's lips and against his tongue.

Derick moaned.

He didn't want to want this, but he did. He didn't just want it. He ached for it. He needed it so badly that it almost physically hurt. Derick wanted to touch himself. His dick throbbed, but with the way Cane was sitting on him, he couldn't get to it to give himself even the slightest amount of relief.

He wanted Cane inside him. He wanted to give himself over. He didn't care if it was a trick.

Just ten more minutes. Ten minutes to pretend that the last six months had never happened, that they were still all right, that nothing had been a lie. Ten minutes and Derick could let go. This could be the closer he'd always wanted, even if he was going to have to fight for his life when it finally ended.

Derick reached down low. He grabbed onto Cane's black T-shirt and started yanking it up.

The man was as built now as he was the day he and Adam had fought each other for control over the clan, and the more skin that Derick exposed, the more intoxicated he became by the feel of it, the heat, the smell, and the taste.

Because, yes, the moment Cane pulled his mouth away from Derick's he let himself taste the exposed flesh of Cane's throat then his chest. Then his nipples, first one then the other.

Derick panted like a dog. He hated that it took only a single little kiss to do this to him, that he was already letting go of his desire for revenge in favor of the desire for sex.

But the more of Derick's clothes that Cane took off, the more he was unable to turn back.

Every kiss, every stroke of Cane's hand over his skin, and then his cock, seemed to build up into why this was actually a good idea, why they needed to fuck and needed to do it right now.

"Fuck me," Derick begged. "Fuck me hard."

He didn't care if Cane didn't love him. Derick needed this.

Cane growled. He grabbed Derick by his hips and yanked him around onto his belly. He grunted. The wood of the dock wasn't smooth and polished like the hardwood flooring of that cabin. There were splinters and wide gaps. It hurt his knees, but it was better than his dick hurting if it rubbed against that crap.

"If you've got another weapon on you, I swear to God—"

"I don't." Might as well get that out of the way while he could. "Just hurry up and do this."

"Adam not giving it to you or what?"

Derick's heart stopped. He clenched his hands into fists on the hard dock, and he swore he nearly changed his mind. That hurt. Something so unbelievably cruel coming out of Cane's mouth brought Derick right to the edge of the line of what he could tolerate.

He was so fucking mean, tormenting him with that when Derick's pants were down and Cane kneeling behind him, but Derick was pathetic enough that he was able to let it go.

For now.

"Just do it. Before I change my mind."

A soft snorting sound came from behind him. Derick decided not to look too deeply into that, but then the pleasure that hit him, finally, was enough to snap him out of the monumental ache that Cane left him with.

This was…God, was that his tongue?

Derick tried to look back, but he could only see so much from this position.

He didn't need to see much. He could feel everything he needed to feel as Cane flicked his tongue over the muscle of Derick's pucker.

He moaned. Derick couldn't hold it back. There seemed to be a small delay in the response time of his body, but God, it was so good. Derick shivered, his brain melting into a heated puddle, every hair on his body standing up straight, and then there was the epic sensation that came when Cane pushed that wicked tongue inside him.

Derick moaned, thrusting his ass back against that tongue. He was so close to orgasm, but then he felt something gripping the base of his dick, right where he didn't need it to be.

A quick look down was all it took for him to realize what had happened, and he groaned.

"A-are you serious?"

Derick wanted to yell at the other man, but then Cane pulled his mouth away from Derick's asshole, and he was left with the horrible shock of what he would do if Cane didn't get back to it. If Cane wasn't in the mood to put him out of his misery.

"Did you hear me?"

Derick blinked, shaking his head. "What?"

Cane growled. "I said you don't come until I tell you to. You do as I say, and your body does as I say, understand?"

Derick swallowed hard, nodding. "Y-yeah, just, please. I need…I need…"

He couldn't get the words out, but Cane wasn't a stupid man. He knew exactly what Derick needed.

Which was probably why he went back to giving it to him.

And he was so good at it. It was just as Derick remembered it. He felt whole. He felt as though he was finally coming home to something good and that everything he'd dreamed of having, that he'd wished to have again, was back with him.

Cane spread Derick's cheeks apart. He pressed his lips and tongue to Derick's hole, and it was as though his body finally came alive after being dormant so long.

This was what he wanted. This was the thing he'd been so desperate for. The sensation he'd craved by the only person in the world who could give it to him.

And God help Derick, he still loved him. He loved Cane so much that he had to bite down on his lips just to keep himself from saying it.