STORY EXCERPT

Declan went to the TV, looking over Chris’ mediocre game collection.

“Street Fighter Two? We’ve got to play this.”

“I should warn you, I’ve been practicing. I’ll totally kick your ass.”

He'd rather do something else to the man's ass, but Chris would never tell him what.

“You couldn’t kick my ass even if you tried.”

Chris couldn’t wait to prove the other man wrong, so when Chris fed Declan’s words to him, he tried not to smile too wide or rub it in too much.

But that wide-eyed, shocked look on Declan’s face was beyond priceless. It definitely took the ache off his groin to ruin Declan's smug mood. Blue balls were a little easier to deal with when winning at something.

“You should see yourself right now.”

Declan took a drink of his beer, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and held the controller with as much determination as he had back when they were kids. “Beginner’s luck. Again.”

Chris grinned, and he played against the other man again, this time taking it easy on him, almost letting Declan win.

Almost.

The other man growled, his eyes glowing at the loss, and Chris couldn’t help but laugh at him.

They drank and played each other until well after midnight. In the end, multiple empty beer bottles littered Chris’ coffee table, and he’d opened up a few bags of chips he’d had in his cupboard.

They laughed as they played and got drunk. Declan even managed to beat Chris a couple of times, but Chris was going to chalk that up to luck considering he was getting a little tipsy.

That had been his biggest mistake.

Having Declan all to himself for the first time in years felt amazing.

Even if this was all they could have, Chris was happy. He wanted more, he wanted to press his lips to Declan's thick neck. He wanted to push his hands beneath the waist of Declan's pants to fist his cock.

But this was all he would ever get. He could learn to be content with that.

“What did you say?”

“What?” Chris looked at the other man, blinking through the sudden blur that had become his vision.

“You just said this makes you happy. Have you been unhappy?”

Oh fuck, had he been speaking out loud?

Well, fuck it. What did it matter if Declan knew a couple of things? They were friends, and it wasn’t as though Chris had to reveal everything of himself, did he?

“I just…wish things could have been different. I like having you around. You were always there for me. As a kid, you know.”

Declan hesitated, as though thinking his words over carefully before speaking. “If anyone was there for anyone else, it was you. You were the one who was always there for me. You and your parents were always good to me.”

Chris snorted. “My mom and dad wouldn’t even let me go over to your house.”

“And they were right to do that.”

Chris didn’t understand. He looked at the other man, and he knew something was happening here, something he’d wanted for a long time, but now that the chance for it was here, Chris almost didn’t know what to do with it.

He almost wished he’d kept his mouth shut. What he was saying could ruin their friendship. He could put everything they were to each other in jeopardy because he got drunk and couldn’t keep his mouth shut.

And despite knowing that, Chris couldn’t seem to shut the hell up.

“I was just thinking that you’ve always had someone whenever I was single. Rory accused me of being jealous of you, and I thought he was being jealous of me.”

Declan growled low in his throat. “Rory was a stupid cunt.”

It had always interested Chris how Declan never seemed to approve of his boyfriends, but he'd especially hated Rory.

“Yeah, he was, but still, I think I was jealous of you, so I always went out and got a boyfriend so I wouldn’t be a third wheel around you. Double dating, you know? I just didn’t want you to leave my life, and then you would be single and I’d be with someone, and it never seemed to work out until now, but I know you probably wouldn’t choose a man.”

“I never said that.”

Chris’ eyes flew wide. His heart stopped, and for a few long seconds, he felt as though he couldn’t breathe.

He was almost too scared to look at the other man. He had an idea of what Declan was talking about, but he wanted it to be true so badly that to get confirmation of something different might just rip his heart out.

“Chris, look at me.”

Chris did. He’d never been this scared of his best friend before. Not because he worried Declan would do something to hurt him but because there was the very real chance that he was going to get his heart crushed with this.

“I never said I wasn’t willing to look at…other men.”

Chris didn’t understand. “Then why didn’t I ever see you with a guy?”

Declan gave him another one of his rare smiles, but this time there was something shy and vulnerable about it, two words that absolutely did not belong with who Declan was as a person.

“I didn’t want to bring another man around because it was never you.”

Chris was once again struck with that strange feeling of not being able to breathe, of having his heart clench so hard that it hurt.

But this was a good sort of hurt. Chris never thought he would feel his heart ache like this and still be able to feel happy and scared at the same time.

Especially when Declan took Chris’ face in his large, powerful hands and leaned forward. “I never wanted to replace you with anyone.”

His mouth was so close, and Chris still couldn’t think. He couldn’t move. He could only feel the heat of Declan’s body getting closer. The smell of beer and potato chips was still on him, and he tasted like both when Declan finally kissed him.

Chris had never in his life had a time-stopping kind of moment when he was ever kissed. He’d read about them and heard about them from other people who had experienced them, but as far as heart-clenching, time-stopping, mind-exploding sort of kisses, this was Chris’ first.

And it was only their mouths. That was before Declan pushed his tongue against Chris’ lips, and with a moan, Chris opened his mouth for the other man, leaning in.

This was a dream. This had to be a drunken dream. No way was this real. No way was Chris kissing his best friend, tasting his tongue and getting hard to the little moans Declan made for him.

Or was he the one making those noises?

Whatever. He didn’t care. Chris didn’t care if this was Declan’s safe way of experimenting and finding himself. He could experiment all he wanted, and Chris would be happy to let him.

He wanted more. He never wanted to stop. If Chris was going to do this then he was going to be greedy and go the whole way. He wanted this man to kiss him and love him as much as he was able to for as long as he was able to.

ADULT EXCERPT

So for that, Chris wrapped his arms around Declan’s neck and gave himself over to the other man.

The other man growled at him, and holy God, with as long as Chris had known the other man, he knew a growl could be a warning, a sign that Declan was annoyed or about to pounce and wrestle Chris to the ground, but one of those growls had never made Chris shiver with lust before.

It never made his cock throb the way it did right now, and suddenly, as though his body had come to life for the first time ever, Chris found himself pushing his body into Declan’s arms.

Something wild and animal that he’d never before experienced roared inside him, and he couldn’t contain it. The only person who could was Declan, and that was by submitting to the man. Chris wanted to give himself over to him. He wanted Declan to take him, to dominate him.

And Declan smelled differently in that moment. His musk smelled thicker. It tickled the back of Chris’ nose in a way it never had before, pulling Chris even closer to him.

“God, you smell good,” Chris said, pressing his face to Declan’s neck, desperate to get more of that scent, to soak it in until he was bathing in it.

So good. He wanted it and so much more.

"Touch me." Chris grabbed Declan's big hand, putting it to his painfully clothed cock. "Touch me."

He felt as though he would implode if he didn't get more.

Declan growled at him, his mouth attacking Chris’ lips then his jaw and throat. More than once Chris felt the scrape of teeth. He thought he should be nervous about that. It wasn’t unheard of for shifters to get a little too rowdy and bite their partners without intending to. Maybe it was the liquid courage that did it, but Chris didn’t feel any fear of this possibility.

In that moment, he trusted Declan with every fiber of his being. It was easy to trust him while thrusting into the man's hand.

Declan seemed so much more out of control and wild than Chris could ever imagine him to be. He’d never seen or felt Declan like this. Of course, he’d also never felt the other man’s mouth over his, never felt the heat of his lips or his body this close.

Never reached down for Declan’s cock and found it hard for him.

Declan moaned against Chris’ mouth. He pulled back, gasping for breath, and when he opened his eyes, they were positively red.

Chris couldn’t look away from them. He wanted to sink into them and never leave.

He couldn’t help but smile at the other man. Chris was straddling his best friend. They were holding onto each others' dicks over their clothes.

There really was only one way this could go. “Are you…is this a wolf thing?”

“Is what a wolf thing?”

The way Chris felt so pulled toward the other man. The way he felt as though he would do anything to be touched by Declan, to be fucked by him.

He didn’t say that. He didn’t know the rules on how shifters had sex, but he knew there were a few rules to it, and Chris wasn’t about to take the risk that opening his mouth this time around would damper the mood and put a stop to what he wanted.

So he shook his head. “Nothing.” He took Declan’s hand, threading their fingers together, still impressed by the way he was able to feel the heat of Declan’s body. He thought he could make out the heavy beating of his heart just by touching his hand, but that had to be a mistake.

They looked at each other, and it was Declan who broke the silence. “Want to take this to your room?”

Chris nodded, not thinking about what would happen in the morning. “Absolutely.”