STORY EXCERPT

The scent of the man, familiar despite the fact he hardly knew him, assaulted Alexios’ senses.

“Kit?”

Alexios pulled the sheet a little higher, ensuring that his manhood was covered.

Kit Rutherford, a thief he had tangled with six months ago, pushed himself up with a grunt of pain. He remembered chasing Kit over the rooftops of London, close to catching him. The cheetah shifter had outsmarted him and gotten away. For weeks after that Alexios had awoken hard in bed, his nostrils filled with the scent of the man who got away.

He hadn’t seen him again until last month when he’d discovered that his coworker, Benjamin Clearwater, the head of research and development at C.L.A.W., had been friends with the wannabe Robin Hood all along and that Kit was helping him with a case.

Their second meeting had resulted in a lot of smirking on Kit’s part, and a lot of growling on Alexios’.

“What the hell are you doing in my apartment?” Alexios asked.

He knew that Kit had helped Clearwater and C.L.A.W. recently, and that the family who rented the box in the bank where Kit’s scent was strongest had claimed nothing was missing, but the man was still a criminal. Alexios had only met Kit twice, so he had no idea how Kit even knew where he lived. He wasn’t too worried, though. Kit might be a cheeky little shit, but he wasn’t dangerous.

“That’s a good question, handsome,” Kit said as he stood up and brushed himself down. He shrugged off the small backpack he was wearing and let it fall to the floor. “An even better question would be…did you decorate in here yourself? Because this is nice.”

Another flash of lightning lit the young man up, displaying the cut above his eye and the welt on his cheek.

Alexios sat forward, only just remembering in time to hold the sheet in front of him.

“You’re hurt.”

Kit touched his cheek and winced. “What this? Nah, it’s nothing.”

Alexios rolled his eyes and got out of bed. He wrapped the sheet around his waist and held it in place with one hand, aware of the way Kit’s jaw dropped.

“Wow. Okay,” Kit said as his gaze followed Alexios around the room as he looked for his first aid kit. “You know how you worry sometimes that you’ve built something up too much in your mind and that the reality can never hope to come close to it?”

“What are you talking about?” Alexios asked as he pulled the box out of his wardrobe and opened it on his bed.

“Never mind,” Kit said as he came over and sat on the bed. “This is so much better.”

Alexios internally winced at the thought of his bed getting damp by the soggy cheetah shifter, but the damage had already been done.

“I’m going to ask you again,” Alexios said, tucking the sheet in a way so that it stayed up by itself and grabbing a few things from the box. “What are you doing here?”

Kit looked up at him, his gray eyes boring into his. “I…got into a little trouble, and I needed somewhere to lay low.”

Alexios gripped the cheetah shifter’s chin and turned his face to the light. The cuts weren’t too bad, but they looked fresh.

“So why come to me?” Alexios asked. “And how do you even know where I live?”

Considering he’d only met Kit twice, the whole total of their time together spanning less than an hour, he found it strange that the thief would come to him for help.

“You know, I don’t remember,” Kit said, his cheeks flushing just a little.

“Well I suggest you try, really hard, or I’ll throw you out,” Alexios threatened, even as he cleaned up Kit’s cut. “Or worse, arrest you.”

“Arrest me? For what?” Kit asked.

“How about the fact that you broke into a bank six months ago—”

“I didn’t break in. I walked in through the open door,” Kit pointed out.

Alexios gritted his teeth. The cheetah shifter was right. Technically there was no evidence he had broken the law that time, save for breaking a glass window, though Alexios was certain Kit had a list of felonies as long as his arm.

“Ow,” Kit said as Alexios pressed a Band-Aid onto his eyebrow.

“Don’t be a baby,” Alexios said. “And don’t think that just because I’m doing this means that I’m not going to call it in.”

“Look, Alex,” Kit began, stopping himself when he saw Alexios glare. “I can call you Alex right?”

“Not if you want to leave here with both your legs unbroken, you can’t.”

With that Alexios grabbed his phone from his nightstand and pulled up his contacts.

“What are you doing?” Kit asked, a hint of panic in his voice.

“Calling Clearwater. You’re his friend. He can deal with you, seeing as you won’t give me a straight answer.”

“No, don’t,” Kit said, getting up off the bed. “Please.”

The desperation in his voice was what made Alexios pause. He put his phone back down and shot Kit a look that let the other man know his patience was wearing thin.

The cheetah shifter deflated, and with reluctance he pulled up his shirt, displaying a large bruise in the shape of a boot.

“I don’t want him to worry about me,” Kit said. “He already worries too much about everything as it is. Besides, he’s kind of been going through a lot lately.”

That much was true. Not only had Clearwater’s ex tried to frame him for treason, but he’d also blown up his house and come after the people he loved.

“Okay,” Alexios agreed, not eager to bother the man while he was still recovering from his recent ordeal. “Then start talking.”

Kit ran a hand over his face. “I will…but first, I need to see your liquor cabinet.”

ADULT EXCERPT

“I know our first meeting didn’t give you a good impression of me, and I went off script at the farmer’s market,” Kit said with a grimace. “But I’m really not so bad once you get to know me.”

Alexios smiled and leaned back in his chair. “So I’m learning.”

“And I’ll tone down the flirting if it makes you uncomfortable,” Kit told him, hoping he could live up to that promise.

Alexios looked every bit the wolf as his eyes slowly traveled over Kit’s body, making him feel every second of it.

“Uncomfortable isn’t what you make me feel,” Alexios told him. Kit detected a hint of something in his voice that made him think that maybe his advances weren’t unwelcome after all.

Feeling emboldened, and more than a little hopeful, Kit asked, “What do I make you feel?”

The two men locked eyes for several long beats. Alexios could have laughed it off, rolled his eyes or something, but he didn’t. He just continued to look at Kit.

Alexios wanted him, he realized. A rush of adrenaline flooded Kit’s body, the sudden surge making his dick harden. At first he didn’t know what to do, which was very unlike him. It dawned on him that he was nervous, which was also new.

Deciding to be bold, Kit stood up, his eyes still locked with Alexios’. He took the two steps that separated them, hoping like hell that he wasn’t wrong about this. He saw a note of surprise on the wolf’s face when Kit dropped to his knees in front of him. His hands found Alexios’ knees, and Alexios let Kit part them so he could crawl between them.

“Now would be the time to tell me to stop,” Kit told him. “If that’s what you want.”

Alexios didn’t say anything. Instead, he leaned back and relaxed, as if silently giving Kit permission. He heard himself whine in the back of his throat, and he felt his cock throb in the tight confines of his jeans.

Every bit the cat, he leaned in and nuzzled Alexios’ crotch, smelling his dark musky essence through his trousers. He ran his hands up Alexios’ thighs, feeling the muscles tense under his touch. He lifted his face just enough to look up at the other man, to try and gage what he was thinking.

Alexios was watching him with his mouth slightly parted and his eyes heavily lidded. There was an aloofness about him that typically came with alphas in Kit’s experience, a guard that always seemed to be up, which was why it shocked Kit to see the wolf looking back at him with such open vulnerability.

Alexios reached out and cupped Kit’s face, his thumb stroking soft patterns onto his cheekbone. Kit closed his eyes and turned his head so that his lips were touching Alexios’ hand. He heard a sharp intake of breath, and then Alexios was pushing him back, urging him to stand as Alexios got up from his seat and crowded Kit up against the window of the train.

The wolf’s lips were firm, his kiss as hard and desperate as Kit felt. Kit heard a groan, and he didn’t know which of them it came from. All he knew was that he had wanted this since they had first met.

His hands came to rest on Alexios’ waist, his fingers inching up under his shirt and digging into the muscles of his back.

Alexios trailed his lips over Kit’s jaw and down his neck, making Kit shake slightly.

Kit was no stranger to a casual hook up. In fact, he hadn’t had a relationship in years, and even then it had been pretty casual. Already, Kit knew, there would be nothing casual with an alpha wolf shifter, and Kit didn’t mind that one bit.

A soft growl by his ear made Kit shudder. Alexios took both Kit’s hands from his waist and pushed them up above Kit’s head. Kit instinctively held on to the top of the window frame. His cock throbbed painfully in his jeans, and he quickly widened his stance so as not to stumble from the rocking of the carriage.

Alexios stopped kissing him and looked him right in the eyes as he grabbed the hem of Kit’s shirt and pushed it up, over his head, and over his arms. Kit nearly stopped breathing when he realized what Alexios was doing. He used the shirt to twist around Kit’s wrists, tying them together.

“Fuck,” Kit said under his breath. He couldn’t remember ever being so turned on. He felt as though he was half drunk from little more than a kiss. Alexios stepped back and pulled his own shirt over his head before tossing it onto the seat he had just vacated. Kit watched the muscles in his chest and arms move as his jeans quickly followed the shirt. He looked like some kind of demi-God.

“Is this what you want?” Alexios asked, pushing his underwear down and showing Kit the half-hard cock that was so perfect it made Kit’s mouth water. “You want me to fuck you?”

There was an edge to his voice that Kit didn’t quite understand and his lust fogged brain wasn’t capable of focusing on.

“God, yes,” Kit said.

Alexios ran his fingertips around the stitches he had put there. “Does it hurt?”

Kit grinned at him. “If you’re asking if you need to be gentle with me, don’t you dare.”

There was intensity in Alexios’ eyes that drew Kit in. He wanted the wolf shifter more than he could ever remember wanting anyone. Now that Alexios had Kit where he wanted him, he took his time running his hands over Kit’s chest. His calloused fingertips teased his nipples, the slightly rough skin making them harden.

“Please,” Kit said, needing those hands elsewhere. He was so hard and his jeans were pretty tight.