STORY EXCERPT

I wasn’t next to him when Bill died that night, but I had dreamed of his death many times in the weeks that followed it. I had raced down the mountain when I heard his scream, only to see the wolf standing over Bill. I couldn’t shut my eyes without seeing Bill’s lifeless body covered in blood.

“It’s my fault that he’s dead.”

“No, it’s not,” Ben Martin, my alpha, repeated for the umpteenth time. It could have been the millionth time, and it wouldn’t have changed anything in my mind.

“It was my job to keep the flock and the shepherd safe. I failed.”

“It was a wild wolf that probably had rabies. He had no pack. The packs on our land don’t have any illnesses. I don’t understand how he even got onto the preserve.” Ben mumbled the last sentence like he was talking to himself.

“Well, it doesn’t matter. My job is to protect, and I failed. I failed Bill, and now he’s gone.”

Ben tried to comfort me. He tried to pull me into his arms and let me cry, but I wouldn’t allow him. Bill was more than just the shepherd. He was my love and partner.

Bill had been raised in a pack on the East Coast when his mom met her true mate one fated day at the local grocery store. She was still very young, and Bill was only a toddler, conceived from a one-night high school liaison. She was living on her own and barely scraping by when her mate walked up to her out of the blue and introduced himself. He picked up Bill and said, “I’m your daddy now,” as a way of introduction and never looked back. Bill’s real father was put in prison during his senior year of high school when Bill was an infant, so there were no memories of his biological father.

Bill grew up surrounded by a loving pack family and a half dozen siblings. When he graduated high school, Bill went off to study zoology and minored in farm sciences. He interned at Strays Preserve his junior year.

As the preserve and pack grew, Ben, the alpha, decided to expand our income base to include sheep, cattle, chickens, and pigs. It wasn’t enough to take over the markets, but it provided quality, affordable meats to the pack members and created pack revenue when sold at a pack-owned butcher shop.

When the flocks and herds grew, Ben wanted to bring in more experienced employees. He released the job description to other packs, and Bill found his way back here.

Bill wasn’t my mate, but I don’t know that I could imagine a mate being any more perfect than him. When he looked at me, my heart raced. I loved catching him stealing glances at me over the top of his glasses when he was reading. My stomach would flip, fill with butterflies, and do every other type of lovesick signal that could be thought of.

When we saw each other for the first time, I almost choked on the water I was drinking. Ben was driving a quad around the preserve in the farm area while Bill followed on a horse. He had to have brought the horse with him, since I knew all the animals the pack owned and had never seen that mount before.

Sometimes people just click together. That was how it was for us. Smiles, laughter, finishing each other’s sentences—we did it all. I supposed some would not like working with their lover, but it didn’t bother us. Neither of us was jealous or overly clingy, so we just went about our business. And if we had to work directly together during the day, we kept our relationship out of the way and acted as employees.

Lots of people thought we were mates, and if not for the fact that I had never had the urge to bite and claim Bill, I might have thought that, too. We both knew we weren’t mates. Since Bill wasn’t even part shifter, chances were that he probably had no mate. It’s not known if all shifters have mates or not. Lots of shifters never find their mate, so who knows if it was just bad luck to never meet or if one didn’t exist.

Bill was my everything. Some shifters never develop committed relationships at all, knowing nothing could compare to the relationship they could have with mates. They settle for the occasional fling or short-term dating that ends as soon as real feelings start to develop. Many keep to themselves completely, just waiting. I know it sounds lonely. But when a shifter is raised knowing there is someone out there who is absolutely perfect for them, they don’t feel that clawing need to find a partner or seek the approval of others. Shifters don’t feel awkward being celibate when so many others are as well. Of course, we don’t lock ourselves away, either. We go out and live our lives, make memories, and enjoy our whole extended shifter family.

ADULT EXCERPT

“Please, Jed, I need you.” I pushed the remains of the shirt off of his shoulders and reached for his belt buckle.

“What do you need, Chris? Tell me what you need.” I undid the button of his pants and slowly lowered the zipper while watching his chest swell with each breath. His tortured nipples captured my gaze, and I flicked at one with my finger. “Can you tell me what you need?” His head bobbed in answer. I slid his pants and briefs down to his thighs, exposing the leaking, red head of his cock. Kneeling before him, I lifted one leg then the other from his pants and shoes. “Tell me.”

“I need your cock in my ass.”

“Get on my bed.” Chris raced down the hall without being told where he was going. There weren’t too many choices, and the door was open. I walked slowly to my room, removing clothes as I went. I grabbed the door frame to steady myself. Chris was on all fours on my bed. His ass presented to me as I walked in. Never in my long life had I ever seen anything I wanted more, anything that made my body hum and my mind race. For the first time, I felt truly alive. Knowing that Chris was only mine ever was a powerful emotion.

“Jed?” Chris looked over his shoulder, insecurities plainly visible on his face.

“I can’t believe you’re mine.” A blush spread from his face through his shoulders. I walked toward the bed sliding my boxers down slowly, reveling in the appreciative stares my mate gave me. His eyes ate up my form. It was a heady thing to know that my body pleased my mate. When he licked his lips, I smiled.

I ran my hand over the curve of his hip and ass, and he pushed against me like a cat seeking affection. “Roll over, baby. I want to make love to you, not fuck you.”

I rummaged through the nightstand for lube while Chris sat up. He grabbed the lube from my hand and dropped it to the bed, and then he pulled me on top of him and fell backward. I laughed at his antics. Chris traced my lips with his thumb.

“You have a beautiful smile. When you really smile, it reaches your eyes, and they crinkle at the edges.” I watched him assess my face. His eyes darted from nose to lips to chin and back around, each detail of great importance to him. He must have realized that I was immobile during his perusal. “Sorry, I was just—”

“Staring?”

“Yeah, I guess. I don’t know. You’re my mate, and you’re here, and I want to just look at you and lick you from top to bottom at the same time. I’m sorry. I am probably not making any sense.”

“You make perfect sense to me. I am right there with you. It’s like you’re not real, and I expect you to just disappear or for me to wake up.”

“That’s it exactly.” We sat in quiet, happy to just look at one another. Chris shifted his body to move my weight around, and our cocks brushed against one another. In that instant, I was reminded of our naked state and how badly I wanted my mate. I sat up and grabbed his cock. I squeezed the turgid flesh and forced pre-cum to dribble down on his cock and my hand. I surveyed his face as he watched me lick his pre-cum from my hand. His flavor burst on my tongue, meaty and salty. Tasting my mate’s essence for the first time was more intense than I was prepared for. I pushed his legs apart, so I could feast on his dick. My tongue stabbed in his slit while I let my saliva slide down his length. I sucked his now-slick penis into my mouth. I wanted more of it and drew long and hard, pulling it deep into my throat until I gagged on it.

I sat up and looked for the lube then went back to sucking on my new treat. His body was spread open for me. My mouth traveled over his smooth flesh, sucking more and more of his pre-cum out. I poured lube on my fingers and started to work on his ass.

My finger rubbed over his wrinkled entrance slowly. Chris’s pulse beat strongly against my finger. I pushed against the opening, and the tip of my finger just popped in. I wanted to shove my finger in hard and deep, so I deep-throated his cock. Just as the crown of his cock stabbed the back of my throat, and I gagged again, I plunged my finger into his ass, pushing through the guarding muscles.

“Oh my gods!” Chris grabbed my head and began fucking my mouth as I slid my finger deeply in and out. When he slowed, I added a second all too easily, so I pushed a third right in after. His legs were trembling, and his bucks into my mouth were frantic and uneven.

I felt his balls push tight against my chin, and I knew he was close to coming. I pulled off of his cock and grabbed his scrotum and tugged. “No coming until I am buried in you.”

“Then get in me. Please, get in me.”

“Almost, but not yet. I need to work this ass some more.” I was enjoying watching my fingers slip inside his body. Chris’s body swallowed me whole. I let go of his scrotum and squirted more lube onto his anus. Using the pointer from my other hand, I worked the lube into him and then used both hands to finger him. “Do you want another finger, or do you want my cock?” Chris didn’t answer. “Well, which is it?”

“I want both.”