STORY EXCERPT

“Ryo Dantis and Theris Sikes,” Ryo practically yelled at the elder as he jogged up on the stage, pulling Theris along behind him.

“I’m going to shove my hand up your arse and make your mouth move like a bleedin’ puppet.” Theris jerked, putting on a good show of trying to free himself from Ryo. In all honesty, he could have just vanished from the room, and that would have taken care of everything.

He didn’t have time to play partner or cater to a mate, but there was something so compelling about Ryo. Theris couldn’t put a name to the golden-brown color of Ryo’s eyes, but, gods, they were breathtaking. They were somewhere between amber and caramel, like a flame seen through a bottle of scotch, and those amazing eyes pulled Theris in like ants to a picnic.

Before he could wrap his mind around what was happening, searing pain like he’d never felt before lanced over the skin on his left hip as though someone had poked him with a branding iron.

Ryo hissed in a breath through gritted teeth and released Theris to slap his palm over the side of his neck. When his hand dropped away, a small circular tattoo was revealed on his bronzed skin. At first glance, it resembled a Celtic knot, but when Theris looked closer, he saw they were actually letters, intricately woven together.

“Congratulations,” the elder said distractedly, not even looking up at them as he held out a plain envelope with the UPAC seal to Ryo. “Everything you need to know is there. Good luck.” He dismissed them with a flick of his wrist and turned to the woman standing next to them.

“That was easier than I expected.” Slipping the envelope into his back pocket, Ryo looked a bit disgruntled as he left the stage, heading toward the exit and still pulling Theris along behind him. “Walk faster.”

“What the hell crawled up your arse?” When he didn’t receive an answer, Theris twisted his wrist, disappeared, and reappeared in front of his new mate. Mate. Who the hell would have thought he’d have a mate? “Right, then,” he said as he slapped a hand to Ryo’s chest, stopping him in his tracks. “Do you mind telling me what the hell just happened back there?”

“Yes,” Ryo answered shortly, “I mind.”

Physically, Ryo was much bigger and much stronger than he. Magically, Ryo could warp perception, bend time, and just about anything he wanted to do, making him stronger in that aspect as well. Since Theris couldn’t get a lock on him, he could vanish right there on the spot, and he would never find the guy again.

That didn’t mean Theris was weak, though. “You made this bed. You’re just going to have to lie in it.” Preferably, that bed would contain both of them naked, but Theris kept that part to himself for the time being.

“Yes,” Ryo repeated. “Bed.”

Apparently, that little brand on his neck had melted his brain, because he wasn’t making a bit of sense. His skin was flushed, his eyes wide and a little glassy, and he was breathing erratically through his parted lips. If Theris didn’t know better, he’d think Ryo was having a heart attack. Since that couldn’t be right, the only other conclusion he could come to was that Ryo was extremely aroused.

“You drank the champagne,” he accused, though not harshly. If he hadn’t known ahead of time, he’d most likely have consumed the bewitched drink as well. “Is it bad?”

“I feel like I’m on fire,” Ryo answered, and he was beginning to pant. “My skin is crawling. My head is spinning.” He cupped the impressive bulge behind his zipper. “I think my dick is going to snap in two.”

“Well, are we mates or not?” It had been far too long since he’d had a good, hot bout of sweaty, biting, scratching, hair-pulling sex. “What are you waiting for, love?” Holding his arms out wide, Theris pouted his lips invitingly, giving himself over in offering. “Where’s your room?”

“Oh, sweet hell, look at your mouth.” Ryo groaned as he shoved the double doors open and propelled Theris through them. “And that ass,” he added, giving Theris’s bottom a hard swat and letting his hand linger to knead the muscles of his right cheek.

“Lead the way and be quick about it.” They needed to get somewhere—anywhere—and soon. While he wasn’t feeling the same fabricated need from the potion like Ryo, his whole body erupted with desire and need at the first feel of Ryo’s hands on him, the first hands to touch him intimately in nearly a decade.

“I can’t wait.” Ryo’s beautifully formed muscles quivered, and he began to sweat in earnest as though he was running for his life rather than walking briskly down a stone corridor.

Theris was anxious as well, but he couldn’t help but preen a little at Ryo’s eagerness. Not only had he gone without a warm touch for years, but never had anyone wanted him with such intensity. True, it was most likely related to the induction of the mating heat, but he’d leave that part out when he told the story later.

All the air rushed out of his lungs when his back met suddenly and forcefully with the wall of the corridor. Ryo lifted him off his feet, anchoring Theris to the wall with his larger body and attacking his mouth with a primal growl. Moaning into the kiss, Theris had just enough functioning brain cells left for the proverbial lightbulb to go off.

Ryo had meant his claim that he wouldn’t be able to wait until they made it to a suitable room quite literally. Whatever. It wasn’t like Theris was going to complain about being mauled by someone as drool-worthy as Ryo—even if it was rather public with people roaming up and down the hall.

ADULT EXCERPT

The heat pouring off his mate was unbelievable, almost scorching, but Theris gloried in every touch, every stroke of Ryo’s tongue inside his mouth. One hand tangled in the curls at the base of his skull, right over his nape, and tugged hard, pulling his head back on his shoulders. Ryo’s teeth scraped down the curve of his throat, not painfully, but hard enough to draw a strangled, ragged moan from Theris’s swollen lips.

The Djinn’s other hand slipped between their groins and gripped Theris’s aching cock through the confinement of his tight jeans. “These have to go,” Ryo rasped against the damp skin along the underside of his jaw. With only that bit of warning, there was a loud ripping sound, and the denim along the seam split, sending cool air rushing over his suddenly exposed hole. “No underwear. I like.” There was definitely a smile in the man’s voice.

“Glad you approve.” Panting heavily, Theris arched his back and rocked, rubbing his throbbing cock over Ryo’s abs. Unmitigated, erotic desire coursed through him, burning his skin and boiling his blood. Gods, he’d never been manhandled or dominated. No one had ever controlled him—owned him—in the way Ryo was doing, and he absolutely loved it.

Nimble fingers had his jeans undone swiftly, and Ryo’s warm hand fished his prick from its trappings, giving it a long, slow squeeze as he stroked from root to crown. The fingers tangled in Theris’s hair released him and slid around to tap at his lips. Once he opened, Ryo pushed in two fingers to rub over his slippery tongue.

“I’m not going to take you with just spit, cher,” he assured when Theris furrowed his brow. “Suck on them.” The authority in his tone held no room for argument, and Theris shuddered hard as he wrapped his lips around the digits.

Ryo continued to jerk his cock as he watched Theris through hooded eyes, bringing him right to the edge and then backing off before he could tumble over it. “That’s good, cher.” He pulled his hand away and pressed their mouths together, tracing Theris’s top lip with the tip of his tongue in a light, teasing brush. “You want more?”

Was the man insane? “Yes,” Theris breathed.

“Then you’re going to have to take it.” He rimmed the fluttering muscles of Theris’s hole as he spoke, wetting them carefully before pushing in the tip of one digit. “Unbutton me and pull my cock free.”

Again, the order sent a shock of desire straight to Theris’s groin as he fumbled to obey. With his hands shaking and their bodies pressed so tightly together, it wasn’t an easy feat, made even more complicated by Ryo’s lack of help. After a few awkward moments, though, he managed to accomplish his goal, nearly swallowing his tongue when he got his first feel of Ryo’s impressive length.

Hard as stone yet velvety smooth, Ryo’s thick cock pulsed against his palm. The vein that ran along the side of the shaft stood out in sharp relief, and Theris traced it with his thumb until he reached the spongy tip. A very unmanly whimper bubbled up in his throat as he smeared pre-cum from the slit around the crown and Ryo growled provocatively in his ear.

Another finger slid into his entrance alongside the other, twisting and scissoring as Ryo stretched the guarding ring. “Close your eyes,” he whispered a moment later as he extracted his digits and batted Theris’s hand away from his cock.

Doing as he’d been commanded, Theris lowered his eyelids and dropped his head back to rest against the wall behind him. The thick helmet of his lover’s dick pressed insistently against his opening, slowing invading his depths, and a quiet panic began to well up inside him. “Ryo?”

“Easy, cher. Keep breathing.” Soft, moist lips fluttered over the corner of his lips. The act was so tender that Theris melted right there on the spot. “I would never hurt you.”

While he didn’t think that man would hurt him purposely, having his ass reamed with no lubrication after a ten-year dry spell wasn’t going to be a walk in the park. Still, he kept his eyes closed and breathed evenly, even if he was digging his fingers into Ryo’s shoulders with enough force to leave bruises.

All of his worries were completely unfounded, though. His mate’s length slid in easily without resistance, causing not even the slightest twinge of pain. Once he was buried to the hilt, there was only a second of pause before Ryo pulled out and then slammed back in, swiveling his hips as he grinded his groin against Theris’s ass.

“Gods, I love magic.” Only a magic user would be able to produce the slick lubrication from nothing more than air.

Ryo’s deep, rumbling laughter filled his ears as his massive body shook around him. “I would never hurt you,” he repeated in a ragged whisper. “Open your eyes now. Watch them watch you.”

Blinking his eyelids open, it took a moment to focus, but once his eyes had adjusted, Theris grinned at the three men standing only a few feet from them, watching with rapt attention. “I guess we better give them a good show.” He wasn’t embarrassed in the least. Sex was a natural part of life, and if these blokes wanted to watch, Theris wanted to be seen.

“Mmm, I like the way you think.” The harder Ryo’s dick got, the thicker his accent became, so that “the” sounded like ze.

An instant later, Theris was completely nude, his sweat-slicked skin glistening in the overhead lights. The fact that Ryo was still fully dressed, with only his cock exposed from his slacks, just made the scene more erotic. Theris knew a few tricks of his own, but he was nowhere as gifted as Ryo. He wasn’t jealous, though. It was proving very beneficial to their relationship.

“Hold on to me, Theris.” With just that bit of warning, Ryo began a hard, swift assault, snapping his hips in lightning-fast strokes as he drove into Theris’s body.