STORY EXCERPT

Jerking awake when he felt strong arms slide under him and lift him out of the chair, he started to protest, but Kieran was already sitting, settling Lynk securely in his lap. Gods, he was so warm. And Lynk was weak. He knew he needed to get up and walk away, but how could he when it was exactly where he’d wanted to be all night?

“Hush now,” Kieran whispered to him, stroking Lynk’s shoulder-length hair, digging his fingers in to massage the back of his scalp. “Just rest, sugar. I’ve got you.”

“I shouldn’t want this.”

Kieran didn’t argue with him, didn’t say anything as he continued petting him, soothing him in a way he hadn’t felt in such a long time. His brain began to shut down, giving him the first measure of peace he’d had in weeks. His eyelids wouldn’t stay open, succumbing to gravity and plunging him into darkness.

His mate.

His Infinity.

The missing half of his soul that had been ripped from the core of his being and given a home in the one person that would forever be by his side to understand him, defend him, cherish him…love him.

Lynk’s beginning and end.

Kieran was his answer, but what was the question? And if Kieran was the question, what could possibly be the answer?

The endless riddles, churning, rolling, swirling inside his brain, over and over until he thought he’d go mad from them. Kieran was the light to his darkness, given to Lynk to balance his self-destructive behavior. How could he in good conscience allow the coldness within him to seep over and pollute his mate?

Kieran Delaney was pure. His heart was kind, warm, the place a person would want to take up residence and spend the rest of their days. Being with Lynk would change him, though. It would change him in ways that Lynk didn’t want to think about.

“I can’t.” He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t tarnish Kieran that way, wouldn’t cloud his soul with bone-numbing darkness. So he struggled, tried to get away. He pushed at Kieran’s chest, heaved his shoulders, twisted one way and then the other.

Kieran held him tight as he thrashed about, not giving in to Lynk’s panic. Rough, callused fingers gripped his chin, pushing his head back on his shoulders. “Quiet,” Kieran commanded, his voice soft but firm, holding a velvet steel that made Lynk shiver from the base of his skull clear down to his toes.

Did Kieran see his trembling muscles? Did he notice how Lynk had calmed at once? Was he disgusted with Lynk’s reaction to him? Whatever was going on inside his mind, his face gave nothing away.

“When is the last time you slept?”

“The night before last,” Lynk answered automatically.

Kieran traced under Lynk’s eyes with his fingertips. “When is the last time you really slept? I don’t mean closed your eyes for a couple of hours, but really, really slept.”

Lynk bit the inside of his cheek and shook his head. He understood the question, but he honestly couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a decent night’s sleep. This close to Kieran, he couldn’t think of anything but the heat pouring off of the man’s body, the hard muscles beneath his soft shirt, and how incredible he smelled.

“That’s what I thought.” Kieran’s voice was low, husky, and dripping with arousal. He shifted in his seat, and Lynk felt the evidence of that desire pressed against his ass.

His own cock hardened in response, swelling to strain against his zipper. When Kieran’s hand landed on his upper thigh and squeezed, Lynk thought he’d come right there in his jeans. The breathless moan that puffed through his lips embarrassed him, but he couldn’t stop it.

“Come on.” Kieran stood, still cradling Lynk in his arms as he stomped across the room and out into the hallway.

“Where are we going?”

“I’m going to put you in my bed, and you’re going to sleep.”

Lynk started to struggle. As much as he’d love to be in Kieran’s bed, it was a terrible idea. “No. I’ll stay here. There has to be a spare room that I can use.”

“I imagine there is, but I said you’re coming with me.”

The authority in his voice went straight to Lynk’s cock. His erection jerked, leaking pre-cum from the slit until he could see the small stain spreading across the front of his pants. Riding on the tail end of that lust was an overwhelming anxiety, though. Did Kieran know his secret? Could he see just by looking at him?

“Kieran, put me down.” He tried to be firm, to speak with conviction, but even to his own ears, he could hear the underlying plea. Maybe he should just haul off and punch his mate again. That had seemed to do the trick the last time—except that he’d felt sick about it from the moment it had happened.

He’d been given a gift, and not only had he forsaken it, turned it away, but he’d gone as far as to abuse it. What the fuck was wrong with him?

ADULT EXCERPT

Groaning against Lynk’s stomach, he ringed the twitching muscles, coaxing them to relax until he could insert one finger into the tight, heated channel. He pumped lazily, stretching Lynk’s hole while he flicked his tongue over the head of his dripping cock. His man went wild, jerking and bucking, impaling himself on Kieran’s digit. His cries of pleasure rose in volume, bouncing off the ceiling and walls and right back to Kieran’s ears like a sweet symphony.

“Please,” Lynk begged. “I can take it. Please, take me, sir.”

While he was sure that Lynk would be a perfect fit for him, wrapping around his steel-hard cock like a glove, he wouldn’t rush, wouldn’t do anything to even inadvertently hurt his lover. “Quiet,” he ordered again as he inserted a second finger and enveloped the engorged crown of Lynk’s cock in his mouth.

“Oh, cheese and crackers!” Lynk yelled.

Kieran chuckled around the pulsing flesh in his mouth. He’d never heard that particular curse during the throes of passion, but as long as his lover was enjoying himself, Lynk could scream whatever he wanted.

Wondering what other strange sayings Lynk had in his repertoire, he pushed in with a third finger at the same time he took his mate’s cock to the back of his throat and swallowed around the tip.

“Fish sticks, fudge, motherclucker, son of a monkey!”

Oh, lord, Kieran couldn’t remember the last time he’d laughed so much during sex. It was the cutest damn thing he’d ever heard, and it only made him want Lynk that much more. Popping off of his lover’s cock, he buried his face in the crease of Lynk’s thigh and chuckled softly as he continued to work his fingers in and out of Lynk’s snug channel.

When he had all three fingers gliding seamlessly without resistance, he eased out and positioned himself so that he was kneeling between Lynk’s trembling legs, gripping the base of his dick to stave off his orgasm. It did nothing to help his composure when Lynk looped his arms under his knees and pulled his legs back to his chest, placing his slicked hole on clear display.

“Ah, fuck, Lynk.” Kieran’s breath lodged in his chest as he surged forward, encasing himself in Lynk’s heated tunnel.

“Yes, yes, fuck Lynk,” his mate babbled adorably while his head whipped back and forth on the pillow and his fingers clutched at Kieran’s shoulders.

Lynk’s inner walls convulsed around his length, squeezing and massaging until Kieran thought his eyes would cross. “Damn, you’re tight.” He pulled all the way out, teased Lynk’s hole with the tip of his cock, then surged back in to the root. He did it again. And again.

“Oh, oh, oh,” Lynk chanted. His cock jerked between them, rising up before slapping against his stomach and coating his skin in clear drops of pre-cum. “I’m gonna come. Please, can I come, sir?”

“No,” Kieran growled. “Don’t you dare come until I say you can.” He didn’t understand why Lynk would ask him such a question. He understood even less why he’d denied his lover. Most of the blood in his body had pooled in his cock, leaving little in his brain for such things as coherent thought process.

There were clues there, pieces of the puzzle that would give him a deeper look into what Lynk needed from him. He just couldn’t focus long enough to put them together.

Every hard thrust into Lynk’s welcoming body sent him a little closer to the edge of the cliff. His balls ached as his sac drew up tight to his body. His cock swelled and throbbed inside Lynk’s hole, and nothing mattered but seeing that look of pleasure-pain on his lover’s face.

Lynk’s abs tightened, the cords in his neck strained, and his dick flexed with the pounding of his heart. It was obvious that he needed release, but Kieran’s refusal seemed to spur him on, driving his lust higher. His eyes were wide open, as big around as dinner plates, and staring up at Kieran as though he’d roped the moon and presented it to Lynk with a pretty red bow.

No one had ever looked at him that way before—as though he wasn’t just the most important person on earth, but that he was the only person in the cosmos. He didn’t know what to do with that level of devotion, so he pushed it to the back of his mind to ponder later.

Sweat beaded across his forehead, dampened his hair, and rolled down his chest and back. His heart thundered against his ribs, his skin tingled, and tiny explosions detonated through his body. Harder, faster, he surged into Lynk’s ass, pounding him into the mattress with enough force to rattle his own bones.

Lynk just cried out, dug his short nails into Kieran’s back, and begged for more. Just before his orgasm overtook him, Kieran felt his fangs burst through his gums, and his eyes shifted so that everything existed in monochrome. He tried to shake it off, to subdue his wolf, but it was a hopeless battle.

“Please,” Lynk whispered, tilting his head to the side submissively as he urged Kieran’s mouth to his neck. “I need it.”