STORY EXCERPT

The wolf just looked back at him. The eyes glowed a little, suggesting there was something there. That maybe it understood the command, but otherwise, it didn’t move.

Not a muscle.

The heavy breathing had stopped, and now it was just…looking…

Not dead. For a brief second, Gus feared that was the case, but as he continued to stare back into those eyes, he could see something.

And not just the way the creature blinked at him.

No. This was something else entirely. This was something primal and…desperate.

Gus shook the feeling from his head.

No. He couldn’t think about this right now. He couldn’t pity the wolf shifter when it was the one who’d broken into his apartment. Which meant that now Gus was going to have to find out which window had been smashed.

Broken glass to deal with and paying for a new window. That was just great.

“Get up. Come on. You’re not supposed to be here.”

Even as Gus gave the command, he couldn’t help but feel like a giant asshole for it.

But why? This wasn’t his fault, and it wasn’t his problem.

Unless this turned out to be one of the wolves from Maxwell’s pack. Did he know Collin or Flynn?

Gus lowered the gun. Not fully. He held the pointed end away from any parts of the wolf that would cause death if he were to pull the trigger, but he didn’t set it aside.

He wished he’d put on his holster.

“Which pack are you from?”

The wolf continued to look at him. The only indication it was alive was the rise and fall of the thing’s chest.

Those eyes though…

Gus had seen his fair share of scary-looking wolf eyes.

From the glowing gold that came when the creatures were hyped up on something to the bright shade of ruby red that came when they were angry.

He’d seen both of those colors when the wolves who had kidnapped him, and the ones who had saved him, had been angry or excited about something.

But these eyes…they were violet.

He didn’t get it, but those eyes pulled him in all the same. Gus couldn’t look away from them.

Almost as though they had him in some kind of spell.

As if he was the moth and those eyes were the flame.

He wanted to come closer. Gus wanted to touch the fur, the parts of it that were clean, that was.

Gus shook the thought from his head.

No. He didn’t need to be thinking about something like that. He didn’t need this period.

He pointed his weapon back at the wolf.

“You, uh, you should go. Whatever you’re doing here, this place can’t help you.” He tried not to look at the blood or to feel pity. “You should go to a hospital. I think.”

He’d never bothered asking Bodolf about this sort of thing or Collin or any of the other wolves who lived there about that sort of thing.

Right about now, he wished he’d known.

Still, there was no response, and those pretty violet eyes continued to look at him.

As though asking if he were going to shoot or do something to help.

Gus swallowed. His hands trembled but not because he was scared anymore.

Because he didn’t want to do anything that would hurt this creature.

Because of what happened to him, Gus had been thrown into a state of both loving and hating the shifters. He loved how beautiful they were. Their wolf forms were always so sleek, so perfect.

Gus had never seen a shaggy-looking wolf shifter.

Unless they’d just finished a fight, but that was beside the point.

Even the shifters who seemed to think of themselves as being ugly were beautiful. Not in a soft way. They exuded masculinity and power.

Even the females.

And Gus admired them for their strength, their beauty in wolf form and human form, and their loyalty to their packs.

He hated the ones who wanted to kidnap wolf souls for their own pleasure. He hated the ones that terrorized humans and other smaller shifter types. He hated the ones that lived around the law.

But this…he couldn’t let this wolf be hurt.

“If you bite me, I’ll shoot you. The gun will always be within my reach, understand?”

Again, the wolf didn’t give any indication that it understood a word of that, so Gus put his gun onto the counter, right where he would be able to reach it, just as he’d promised, and then he set to work on caring for the wolf with the purple eyes.

He tried to. Gus only meant to pull the bandaging back to get a look at the wound.

He saw it. It wasn’t good. He wasn’t a doctor or a nurse, so he didn’t have any frame of reference for how bad this was, but he was pretty sure this wasn’t something he had the ability to deal with.

“I…I’ll call an ambulance for you.”

He should have gotten to his feet right then and there, marched out of the bathroom, grabbed his cell phone, and made the call.

He should have done that the instant he knew there was someone in his apartment who shouldn’t have been there.

Instead, Gus couldn’t stop himself from running his fingers through the patch of clean fur, feeling it against his skin, adoring the sensation of it.

A tingle ran through his fingers then up his hand, past his wrist and forearm.

Gus’ heart started to beat so fast he couldn’t get a grip on himself. He puffed for breath and had to yank his hand back.

“What the fuck?”

Gus clenched his fingers. That was…weird.

Gus swallowed hard, pushing himself to his feet.

“I’ll call that ambulance for you.”

He went to the door.

“Stop.”

He did, as though he’d been commanded to by some higher power. Gus couldn’t have moved even if he’d wanted to.

He looked back.

The wolf was gone. In its place was a man. A tall man. A pale man.

Pale and sweaty. He definitely looked as though he’d seen better days with those bags under his eyes.

He had the wolf paw that was so common among shifters tattooed over his chest, and his fingers were caked in blood as he held his hand over the wound.

Those violet eyes looked right at him, a heat in them that brought back that urgent tingling. “Come back.”

He didn’t have to say it. Gus was already walking back toward him before the words were even out of his mouth.

Gus sank to his knees again. He put his hands on the man’s knees without thinking, but God, he needed to touch him so badly.

When Gus’ hands did make contact, the shifter inhaled a deep breath through his nose.

“God, that’s so good.”

Gus swallowed hard. This time he didn’t take his hands away. He gripped tighter, as though trying to feel the skin of this man’s knees through the denim of his jeans.

The fact that he couldn’t feel it made this all seem so damned…alien to him.

“What happened to you?”

The shifter smiled at him. “Little run-in with some undesirables. You don’t have to worry about that. I lost them.”

Gus wasn’t worried about them, whoever they were.

He knew he should be worried, but it just wasn’t in him while he had this amazing skin-to-skin contact.

He didn’t just want the touch. He wanted to put his mouth all over this man. A man he didn’t even know, a man who had broken into his apartment and was now bleeding all over his floor.

ADULT EXCERPT

“Tell me your name.” He growled the words, his hands gripping the man's waist tighter. He would leave bruising. Maddox didn't want to be too rough with him.

This didn't smell like an omega. This male smelled human.

Humans were fragile, for the most part. There were a few out there who could hold their own, but those who could hold their own against the shifters without the use of chemicals were few and far between.

This human here might not be physically stronger than Maddox, even in his weakened state, but the way he pulled against Maddox's torn and bloody clothes was enough of an indicator that he had the energy and desire to do what needed to be done.

He was so warm. Maddox had never in his life touched a human this warm before. As though there was an actual fire burning deep inside of him.

“Fuck me,” he begged, voice raspy and panting. “I need you to fuck me. Right now.”

Maddox growled. The wolf growled, too. The peace Maddox had felt was suddenly gone. He couldn't hold it back anymore.

The wolf wanted their mate, and it seemed the damned beast was going to take it no matter what.

Shit. He wanted to hold it back. He wanted to keep some of his mind intact for this, but all he could focus on was the lust, the feel of his mate’s skin as the man kissed his mouth, throat, and jaw as he tried to remove Maddox of all his clothing.

The heat. The taste. The desperate desire as his cock throbbed. His mate ground their hips together, apparently searching for any amount of friction he could get.

Fuck it. Maddox growled, grabbed his mate by the collar of his black shirt, and ripped it down the middle.

Buttons flew everywhere. His mate moaned, and to Maddox's shock and delight, he reached his hands up to play with his nipples.

They were a rosy pink color, and they called to Maddox’s mouth.

So why hold back?

The wolf howled inside his head as he leaned forward, taking one of those rosy buds between his lips and teeth.

And his mate moaned for him. The man gasped, spine arching as he held on to the back of Maddox's head, fingers threading through his long hair as Maddox teased each pretty nipple with his teeth.

He was so used to tearing flesh with his teeth. The idea of teasing, of giving pleasure with his teeth was so beyond his comprehension that his wolf struggled with the idea of it.

It didn't want teeth on their mate at all. The wolf was too used to using its teeth to make people scream with pain, not pleasure.

“God, that feels so good,” his mate moaned.

Maddox decided that meant it would be a good idea to stop. “Then you should tell me your name and I can keep going.”

The man blinked down at him, cheeks pink, eyes dilated.

“Gus.”

Maddox reached his hand beneath the waist of his opened pants.

“Gus what?”

Gus’ Adam’s apple bobbled in a heavy swallow.

“Simmons.”

Maddox nodded, pleased to have his name. “It's real nice to meet you. I'm Maddox St. James. You're my mate.”

Gus nodded, though his eyes were still dilated as though he were high on something. The lust, most likely.

“That's nice. Are you gonna fuck me now?”

The wolf howled, clawing and biting at the inside of his skull to get out.

Maddox held it back. As much as he possibly could, he held back.

Which was difficult because the more Gus touched and kissed him, the more his wound closed, and the more energized the wolf felt.

The more he wanted to fuck.

Without another word, Maddox grabbed Gus by his hips, quickly spinning him around onto his hands and knees.

Then he quickly changed his mind.

No. There was blood all over the floor. He wanted to rut. Maddox needed to rut, but he sure as hell wasn't going to do that on a dirty bathroom floor.

His mate deserved so much better than that.

So he grabbed his mate, picked him up, and hauled him into the shower.

The bathroom wasn't big, but the shower was a nice size. Maddox was pleased with that because he was going to be in here with Gus for a while.

He leaned in close to Gus’ ear. “Take your clothes off.”

The man teased the shell of his ear with his teeth. Gus shivered.

Already he braced himself on the wall of the shower, as though he couldn't hold himself steady on his own.

“Clothes off. Right now. I won't wait any longer.”

“Can't you just…get me out of these clothes?”

“Oh? You want to be pampered, do you?”

Gus looked back at him, such a helpless expression on his face that Maddox couldn't help but find it beautiful.

“Well, when you look at me like that…” He pulled his mate’s face back, tilting his head so Maddox could kiss him hard on the mouth.

How could he resist?

Maddox was less than gentle as he tore Gus out of his clothes.

Even if he’d chugged ten Monster energy drinks, he didn't think he would have felt so energized and alive.

The best part was that, during a mating heat with a wolf soul, he wasn't supposed to have the hard crash that came after guzzling so many energy drinks.

He was supposed to feel alive and invigorated.

A moment ago he’d felt close to passing out from the pain. Now, the wound on his stomach was little more than a scratch, and he knew it would only feel better after he was with his mate.

Maddox growled as he tore the clothing from Gus’ body. He smelled of grease and alcohol.

Perhaps he worked in a bar? He smelled wonderful. He smelled sweet and spicy. The scent tingled deep inside Maddox's nose, and he groaned as he licked the side of Gus’ throat.

“Have you ever been fucked before?”

Gus shook his head, still gasping for breath as though Maddox were already fucking into him.

“No.”

Maddox paused, and his wolf smiled a stupid dog smile at that, and Maddox damn near howled.

He couldn't get out of his pants fast enough. He turned on the water, taking the first cold shot so it didn't spray his mate too badly.

“Don't worry about the cold, sweetheart. I'll protect you.”

“I don't want you to protect me. I want you inside me.” Gus thrust his ass back against Maddox's cock, groaning as he did.

Maddox felt the heat in his body increasing.

Too much and it could turn out to be a little more than they bargained for. Maddox needed to hurry up and give his mate what he needed before anything happened.

He did a quick search of the shower for anything he could use to slick the man.

This would be his first time being taken. Maddox was keenly aware of the privilege that was.

He took his cock in hand, sliding it up against the crack of Gus’ ass. Barely a touch, and it was enough to make Gus shiver and moan with pleasure.

“Yeah, just like that, please.”