by Grey, Aspen
“Sorry about the mess,” the alpha said before turning and stepping outside. As the door shut behind him, the tension in the room dropped like a stone and everyone began to laugh and joke as though they hadn’t just been terrified by what had just happened. Rusty instantly shifted back to human form and raised a finger at them.
“You lot!” he roared. “Get to work or I’m putting all of this on your fucking tab!”
I looked around at the mess, the spilled beer and shattered barstools and sighed. The rest of my night would be spent cleaning up, which was going to be a lot harder with the semi in my pants and the image of that drop-dead Adonis alpha in my mind. But as though Rusty could read my thoughts, he called out to me.
“Ollie! Get your butt out of here,” he said, his voice stern but warm. “Head on upstairs and I’ll have these boys take care of the mess. You’ve earned some time off.”
“You sure, boss?” I asked, just to be polite.
“Sure am,” he grinned. “You get outta here.”
I didn’t need to be told twice. With a satisfied smile to the frat boys, I headed out the back door of the bar and stepped out back. I was probably being silly, but I looked around just in case my savior had decided to stick around. Of course he hadn’t, so I mounted the stairs and made my way up to the rickety old door, slid my key in the lock and stepped inside.
It wasn’t much—basically just a tiny kitchenette section with a hot plate and a sink, a small bathroom with an even smaller shower, a mattress on the floor and a single Chinese lantern hanging from the ceiling, which I switched on as I came into the room. I was shaking, I realized, and couldn’t get the image of the alpha in the bar out of my head.
“What a fucking hunk,” I said to myself as I crashed down on my “bed” and immediately slid out of my jeans, allowing my still-expanding penis to be free. I was actually pretty much almost hard and began to touch myself to the image of the man who’d rescued me that was still in my mind.
I tried to picture his hands, but all I could see was the fist that had gotten the fuckboy’s hands off of me.
I wondered what his abs looked like beneath his shirt and what he looked like when in panther form. I wondered how big his dick was—probably enormous—and how he looked naked…how he liked to fuck. But most of all, I wondered how he smelled.
Goddamn you for using the peppermint trick! Now you don’t know!
“Probably my fated-mate,” I joked to myself as I pictured him fucking me. I felt dirty and spit on my hand and used it as lube to jerk my dick. It felt incredible, and I probably could have come right then and there, but I was horny and it had been a while since I’d had a nice long session of pleasing myself, so I slowed down.
No. Let’s make this one last.
Chapter Five
Sid
“Fuck!” I shouted loudly, not caring if anybody heard me. I was pacing around across the street from the White Swallow, watching through the windows as Rusty had the boys working for him, cleaning up the mess they, and I, had caused when the fight had broken out. My eyes were attentive and alert, scanning for signs of the gorgeous omega that I’d saved, but since I’d been outside, I hadn’t seen anything.
My fated-mate! I thought as my hormones and adrenaline flowed through me like two rivers downstream from a dam that had exploded and were now crashing over their banks with incredible force.
Why didn’t he react when he smelled me?
“Goddamn it!”
He had to have smelled me! I smelled him! How could he not?
A couple of young boys, probably just out of high school, out on the town to test their fake IDs, brushed past me and glanced over their shoulders like I was a crazy person. I probably looked like one the way I was cursing to nobody in particular with no regard for anyone around me.
But what else was I supposed to do? I’d spotted my fated-mate—I knew it was him, that was for certain—but he hadn’t even recognized me as his! And now I was just waiting for him to come outside and head back to his apartment so I could talk to him and ask him why it was he hadn’t recognized me by my scent.
He is your fated-mate! I told myself as a sliver of doubt entered my mind. You smelled him! You know it’s true.
But then why hadn’t he reacted? He was inches away from me. Hell, our bodies had touched slightly when I broke that idiot’s jaw. How could he not have realized who I was? Was it possible that he was my fated-mate but I wasn’t his?
“No, of course not!” I cursed at myself again, slapping my palm against one of those hard metal poles you chain a bike to. I glanced back at the White Swallow where the douchebags were still hard at work. Rusty had gone out back and thrown on a pair of work pants and a sweatshirt and was watching them from the bar.
Where is he?
I hated having to wait outside, but Rusty was right to get me out of there. I was the odd man out in that situation, and staying in the bar would have just caused more confrontation. But standing across the street with my eyes on the windows had me feeling like some kind of crazy stalker—the stalker of a guy who apparently hadn’t even realized who I was to him.
But then again, I didn’t want to go home either.
“Where is he?!” I hissed, this time controlling the volume of my voice as a squad of girls passed. It was an odd place to see a group of them, about college age as well, but not too odd considering how many girls just looooooooved having a gay friend these days.
“Hey, buddy,” a voice came from beside me. I turned and found myself staring at an alpha with dirty blond hair and green eyes that would have made me think he was some kind of an actor had it not been for the “Loyalty” tattoo across his chest and a physique that screamed ex-military. “What’s going on in there?”
He pointed across the street to the Swallow. I shook my head.
“Fight,” I said, not elaborating. I was never a fan of military men and that hadn’t changed. They were always by the book, macho and usually brain-dead. Never cared for the “man in uniform” thing either.
“Fight?” he replied with that tone that would have amped me up into a fighting mood had I not already been there. “That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
“Threw you out, huh?” he chuckled.
“Can I help you with something, buddy?” I asked him. “Because I don’t serve drinks.”
“Look like you wash floors,” he responded as he looked me up and down.
“Excuse me?” I asked, squaring off with him.
“I think you heard me.”
“I run my own business, dickhead,” I replied. “I don’t just take orders like a mindless drone.”
“Take orders?” he asked. “Yeah, I was military. Navy SEAL. You really wanna fuck with me?”
“SEAL training doesn’t mean shit when you’re shifted, pal,” I countered, feeling my fangs extend as I prepared to take my panther form. I was already riding high on the adrenaline from the last fight and was ready for anything. This guy had picked the wrong time to get snarky with me.
“You know what?” he asked. “You look like you’ve already had enough for one night, so I’m gonna give you a pass and head over there and get myself a drink.”
“A pass?” I asked as he stepped off the curb to cross the street.
“Yeah. You heard me.”
I tensed up even more as I watched him go, and between the fight and my frustration with not being recognized by my fated-mate inside, I was right on the verge of shifting and tearing him to pieces. But I wasn’t about to add another bloody battle onto what had already been a rough night. So I let him go. It wasn’t like he was going to get much out of the bar anyway. Not with all that shit going on inside.
“Good luck, buddy,” I said as I leaned back against the wall behind me.
Chapter Six
Arthur
What a doofus, I thought as I crossed the street away from the pale, miserable-looking alpha that had been shouting to himself when I arrived. What the Hell
was that all about?
“Don’t know, don’t care,” I muttered as I stepped up to the door of the bar. Guy was paler than an iceberg in the North Sea and this was San Diego. You had to try hard, or be a pampered little sissy, to pull that off. I tugged open the door and stepped inside where a bunch of guys who looked like they’d just left the frat house were cleaning up like a bunch of servants working for their king.
“Don’t just sweep it around!” a gruff voice commanded from behind the bar. “Get it into a pile and put it in a dustbin!”
What a ball-breaker.
“Hey, boss!” I called out from across the room over the bent backs and heads of the frat cleanup squad. “Can I get a b—”
“We’re closed!” he snapped before I could finish. “Head over to Gritty’s, they’ll take care of you. They’re just out back.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but he quickly raced over to one of the guys who was down on his hands and knees and started chewing him out on the technique he was using to scrub the floor. I had a feeling that this was one tough bastard and that he was also taking advantage of these idiots’ screw-up to get a free full-bar cleaning out of them.
Carlito. That son of a bitch.
It really shouldn’t have surprised me. He “wasn’t ready,” and it was pretty obvious he wouldn’t be anytime soon—if ever.
Once a cheater, always a cheater.
A lot of guys would have flown into a rage and broken the face of the guy who was burying his dick inside my boyfriend’s ass, but really—what was the point of that? It wasn’t like it was that guy’s fault that Carlito had cheated on me. Hell, the other guy probably didn’t even know. More likely than not, Carlito had gone out to a bar or a club and showed himself off, told the guy he was single and brought him home with him. It was a brazen move, considering he knew I’d be coming back at some point, but then again maybe that was the point.
Maybe Carlito wanted to get caught. Maybe he was sick of being tied down and was looking for an excuse to leave me. If that meant me leaving him, that was good enough. Probably even better, as Carlito didn’t like confrontation.
Even now, as I pictured them fucking back at my apartment, it didn’t anger me. It didn’t even really hurt. He would never be “the one,” and I knew that now.
Gritty’s wasn’t too far away, so I headed back outside. The pale alpha was still standing across the street, probably waiting for one of the idiots inside. I pursed my lips at him as I turned and made my way down the back alley to the other block. But as I passed the dumpster, it wasn’t the smell of trash that I smelled—it was a scent that just about took me off of my feet.
“The fuck?”
It was so strong I could practically see it cut its way through the air from a dim window on the second floor down to the street level.
Warm banana cream, I thought as I began to salivate and felt my cock jerk inside my pants. Not only was it one of the most enticing scents I’d ever smelled in my entire life, it carried with it something else, something I wasn’t even sure I would have believed in until that very moment, but as I sniffed the air and took the scent into my lungs, I knew believed.
My fated-mate.
A shadow flickered in the window and I felt my heart almost claw its way out of my chest as a figure appeared, silhouetted by the light behind him. I couldn’t make him out completely—just lines across his body that showed me he was small, thin, but in great shape. His hair was messy, but I couldn’t make out his face. But it was him—my fated-mate—and his scent spilled down and over me like a waterfall of pure bliss.
We stared at each other for a long time, both of us frozen in place. He knew and I knew what was happening, but neither of us was able to say anything. Finally, I forced my lips to move.
“Hi.”
Hi? That’s all you can say, you idiot?
“Hi,” he replied.
“I’m Arthur,” I told him.
“Ollie.”
“Like the skateboard move?” I asked, hoping a joke would do something to help the situation. I saw him move enough to know that he was smiling.
“Exactly.”
“Can I—can I come up?” I asked. It was presumptuous to ask under normal circumstances, but this was anything but. He didn’t even pause.
“Please do. The stairs are out back.”
I moved instantly, leaving the other schmuck behind on the curb. As I rounded the corner, the dull roar of the White Swallow fell away and I looked up to see a door open at the top of the stairs, which I took two at a time until I was standing in front of him—my fated-mate.
This close up, the scent was enough to cause my cock to grow to full attention and my heart to pound like a hard rock drummer on speed. My limbs were trembling, tingling with anticipation and all I wanted to do was jump on him. But I waited, and as he stepped into the light, I finally got a good look at him.
Gorgeous…
His blond hair was messy, but in a cute, boy-band kind of way. His bright blue eyes shone like a morning sky. He stood about a foot shorter than me, and all I could think was; spinner.
“Arthur,” I repeated.
“Ollie,” he replied, extending a hand. I glanced down to take it, and it was then that I noticed he was naked. Not only that, his glistening cock was at full attention. I’d caught him right in the middle of jerking off.
“Oh, fuck,” I whispered as I fell on my knees in front of him and took his cock into my mouth.
“Oh, fuck!” he yelped, bracing himself against the doorframe with both hands. “Shit!”
I couldn’t help myself. I wanted to devour him. His scent was like a drug, driving me crazy as I took all of him down my throat, all the way up to his balls, which I licked as I grabbed him by the ass and pulled him closer.
He’d used spit to jerk off with and I could taste it. His precum spilled onto my tongue too, tasting exactly as he smelled. It was sweet and seductive. I wasted no time unbuttoning my pants to let my dick out.
“Holy fuck!” he gasped. I wasn’t sure whether it was out of pleasure from the head I was giving him or from the sight of my enormous cock. Either wouldn’t have surprised me—or maybe it was both?
He moved his legs a bit, causing his ass to flex in my hands, and a new desire filled me: the desire to be inside him.
I let his cock slip from my mouth and got to my feet in front of him. We were still standing outside, I realized, in full view of the neighbors. That didn’t bother me, of course, I had nothing to be ashamed of, but with all the camera phones around these days, I didn’t want our activities ending up on the internet. So I lifted Ollie easily into my arms, stepped into his apartment and closed the door behind us.
I set him down on the mattress that lay at our feet and stared into his hypnotizing eyes. “I hope you’re ready for this.”
Chapter Seven
Ollie
How is this happening?
You let him up here!
Why did you do that?
He could be anybody?
You know the answer, idiot! He’s your fated-mate!
But I didn’t believe in fated-mates. At least, not until about forty-five seconds ago when the scent had hit me. It was so fucking masculine, it was unbelievable. Whiskey and something like fresh woodchips, like I’d just encountered the world’s first man. It was like running into a young Clint Eastwood, or what Clint represented, or the ideal guy advertisers would want to put on their posters to sell product.
He was ex-military, that much was obvious and not surprising for San Diego, but I could tell that unlike many of the men in uniform who felt entitled to any omega they lay their eyes on, this guy was different.
He’d gone down on me when he first saw me. That was crazy!
He was an alpha and I was an omega and he went down on me first. I’d expected him to grab my head and force me down to his crotch or at least kiss me first! But no, he’d knelt down, almost submissive-like, and sucked my dick. Even if it was only for a minut
e or less, he’d done it, and that was a big deal.
“Are you ready?” he asked me and I realized that I hadn’t responded the last time he’d spoken to me.
“Y-yes!” I stammered quickly as I shook myself from my thoughts. My heart jumped as he leaned in and it felt as though the entire city exploded like a firework behind us as he kissed me.
His warm lips pressed against mine and I opened my mouth to let his tongue in. I could taste my own precum against his, which turned me on and made me feel even dirtier than I already had felt when I was jerking off.
I had a moment of guilt as I thought about the other alpha who’d stepped in to save my ass back down in the bar, and how he’d been the one who inspired my jerk-off session, but then I remembered that this was my fated-mate. Arthur was my fated-mate and that meant that this was meant to happen.
His hands explored my body and he grabbed my t-shirt by the hem and pulled. I hadn’t even bothered taking it off for my little session. I raised my arms and broke our embrace for a moment while he lifted it off and threw it aside, leaving me completely naked beneath him.
“How is this happening?” I asked him. His reply was a knowing smile as he grabbed the back of my head, clenched a fist through my hair and brought my lips to his.
So hot!
I was under his control now. He was a proud, strong alpha who had found his omega and he was going to do what he wanted with him and I loved it. I’d never realized just how badly I wanted to be taken and forced to submit to someone until Arthur had his hands on me. It was all happening so quickly that I felt as though I’d been thrown into the back seat of a racecar that was speeding through the city and there was nothing I could do but hang on for dear life.
“Mmmm,” he said against my lips. “You know your precum tastes like your scent?”
“Do you—like that?” I asked. I already knew the answer, but I wanted to hear him say it.