by Rhys Ford
He wondered briefly if he’d read it wrong, because the man said nothing for a long moment, staring at Levi with his dark, honey-tipped eyes. His expression was hard to read, his gaze searching Levi’s face for something he must’ve found, because he followed Levi’s kiss with one of his own, murmuring between their pressed-together lips for Levi to hold that thought until after dinner.
Levi’s body still tingled from that kiss, and it was difficult for him to figure out what Joe was talking about until he remembered the meeting he’d had only a couple of hours before.
“Zhou’s agreed to take in the Los Lobos as a part of his group. It’s not exactly what Reilly wanted, but it gives him a lot of independence in his own area with the backing of a stronger contingent. What he’s doing is a good thing, but it was a hard sell.” Levi pinched a few salted bean sprouts from the TV tray and munched through them quickly. “The Lobos are pretty much an island of misfits, shifters, and witches who broke from their own groups or have been tossed out. He’s giving them their second or third, maybe even their sixth chance, so it’s a huge gamble for Zhou and the Vikings to take them in. Hopefully it’ll work out. If not, then they’ll have to move on, and it will be harder for Los Lobos to find someplace that’ll let them stay.”
“Yang and I pretty much went over how I felt, because seeing him walk in—as a cop who lied to me—it was hard,” Joe confessed. “I understand how it’s important to keep things a secret. Hell, apparently my grandmother has been lying to me my whole life. I still need to get back with her about that.”
“Don’t be too hard on her. I can’t imagine it’s easy explaining to someone that the world they know has pieces and parts that they’ve never seen. There are people out there who can change their bodies into animals or manipulate the energies around them to influence how someone heals or call up a wind.” Levi studied Joe through his lashes, watching as the man’s attention drifted toward the kitchen windows, his gaze unfocused and poignant. “I’m not going to lie to you and tell you I know how it feels, but I can tell you I know exactly why what we do, what we are, should never become open knowledge.
“My son is my world.” Levi heard his emotions shatter his voice, a heavy steel hammer on fragile glass. “I never want to see my son cut open, his still-alive body spread apart and his skin pinned down, held fast by hemostats and sharp spikes while a group of assholes who call themselves scientists poke and prod at him to see what makes him shift. I would like to think that it wouldn’t happen, when you and I both know that’s already been done to people just because they have a different god or skin color or language. For all we know, it’s already happening and we just haven’t found out about it. That’s how scattered all of us are. That’s what worries me the most, that there’s somebody out there who is already willing and able to tear apart my son, my mother, or even Yang, just because they don’t understand us.”
He was tired. Levi could feel the stress of the week and the pressure of bringing two volatile groups to compromise building on top of his buried fears. Joe edged the TV tray out, turning it so it was out of their way, then took both of their bowls and set them down on the table. Edging closer to Levi, he clasped their hands together and stroked the back of Levi’s hand with his thumb. The touch was enough to soothe Levi’s jangled nerves, easing away the tightness in his chest. It was nice to share his worries with someone who seemed to get it. Other people, even his parents, assured him time and time again that their world was safe, that no one would ever subjugate them in the ways Levi’s imagination seemed to spin out.
There was just too much evidence of mankind being cruel to itself, and Levi wasn’t willing to risk his son’s life on maybes. Declan was too precious, and Joe’s steadiness was a welcome comfort.
“That’s the real reason why you’re a Peacekeeper,” Joe murmured, nodding his head. “That I can understand. I wouldn’t want that for you. I wouldn’t want that for any of you.”
“Besides, your grandmother is a terror, and the less you know about what she does, the better off you are,” Levi teased. “Toni Zanetti is a powerful strega, not just because she can influence humors and flesh, but because she has a huge network of people who are not only willing to lend her their powers, but also have some relatives who are willing to break a few kneecaps. Let’s just say I was surprised to find out her grandson was a cop.”
“Well, I also have an uncle who has an Italian restaurant where people who break kneecaps go to eat.” Joe laughed. “How about if we talk less about my grandmother and more about you? And I don’t mean the furry side of you, but the guy who runs a pub and seems to have a teenage son with a nose for trouble.”
“A nose?” He snorted, unable to count the amount of times he’d gotten calls from the school about what his son had gotten into. “That boy has an entire body for trouble. I’d wonder where he got it from, but my parents cursed me to have a kid just like me, so I guess shifters can do magic after all.”
Joe drew another circle with his thumb, searing hot with promise and as spicy as the chili oil lingering on Levi’s tongue. “I can’t wait to meet him. Or at least, I hope you keep me around long enough to meet him.”
There were sayings about crossroads in life or how a single pebble—one single decision—tossed into a river could change its direction. Levi never believed that until Joe’s thumb made another circuit along the back of his hand, brushing over Levi’s knuckles with gentle strokes. He’d kept every single one of his lovers at a distance, his relationships casual enough to end by not returning a phone call. What Joe was asking was a hell of a lot more than Levi had given, maybe even more than he’d given the mother of his child. Joseph Zanetti wasn’t someone to toy with. An older man with a solid career and a strong sense of family—a far cry from the butterflies Levi chased for a good time. He tasted good, better than Levi deserved, and best of all, he listened.
Joe wasn’t asking for forever, but he was tossing a stone onto that path, placing it carefully down so Levi could take a step.
“I think Deck will like you, and not just because you can throw a Frisbee.” He teased a smile out of Joe’s sensual mouth. “I like you too. Do you think you’re done with your ramen, because I would really like dessert. And I’m not talking about ice cream, Joey.”
Ten
AS A cop who’d started in a patrol car cruising some of the meanest streets in San Francisco, Joe had more than a few scary moments under his belt. He’d been shot at, stabbed in the ribs, and tackled during his career, usually coming out of the incidents thankful for his Kevlar vest even when a bullet found his flesh. Yet, in all of his years wearing one of SFPD’s stars, nothing seemed to have prepared him for the twist of nerves in his gut and down his spine as he reached for the waistband on Levi’s sweats. Joe’s fingers trembled slightly when he was finally able to slip down the tiny plastic fastener from its snug place against Levi’s belly to the end of the drawstrings holding Levi’s pants up. Tugging at the loosened pants, he dragged the fabric down around Levi’s hips, then gripped the lean, powerful body he’d wanted since the moment he’d seen Levi from across the street.
Joe knew they were rushing things. Or at least it would seem that way to anyone looking in from the outside, but Levi fit into him in ways Joe had never experienced before. It was easy—scarily easy—to laugh and share with a man he’d only laid eyes on a few days before.
The skin of Levi’s belly warmed the back of Joe’s fingers, the silken dark strands below his belly button tickling Joe’s knuckles. Still fully dressed and sitting on Levi’s king-size bed, Joe pulled Levi closer, bringing him forward until Levi straddled Joe’s thighs. Tugging Levi’s shirt up, Joe gently placed his lips on Levi’s stomach and closed his eyes while he inhaled the man’s sweet, musky scent. There was nothing more erotic than brushing his mouth over the soft skin of a man’s most vulnerable parts—the stretch of an oblique or the nearly baby-fine texture of a man’s bare-naked hip. Levi tasted as good as he smelled, and when Joe skim
med the tip of his tongue across Levi’s belly over to his hip, Levi’s hands came up to cradle Joe’s head, pressing him in closer.
There was no mistaking Levi’s arousal, his need for Joe straining his sweats’ crotch, the soft fabric imprisoning his thickening cock. The long fingers scraping through Joe’s hair moved in slow, erotic lines, nails lightly scratching in places with enough friction to make Joe hum in pleasure.
“I hate to bring this up right now, but,” Joe whispered, luxuriating in the feel of Levi’s hands on him, “do we need condoms? I mean, I don’t know what… hell, I’m not even sure how to talk about it without sounding like an asshole.” He lifted his chin and stared into Levi’s hooded eyes. “I don’t even know what I’m asking. I know we’re different physically, but—”
“I’ve had my rabies and distemper shot,” Levi murmured, then shot Joe a smirk broad and wicked enough for Joe to realize he was teasing. “I’ve always used condoms, because shit, we’re told we can’t get this or that, but really, who knows? I know we can test clean of stuff, but babe, I haven’t dated anyone serious enough to go bare in forever and a day. It’s not that I don’t want to, but, so I’ve got a kid to think about, and it’s something we can do later, once… you know I’m safe. That a deal breaker for you?”
“Do you have any?” Joe chuckled. “Because I do not. So I was also kind of asking… begging… that you had some stashed away, because I don’t think I can walk away from you right now. Even if it’s just to go down to the drug store and come right back.”
“Yeah, no walking needed.” Levi jerked his head toward the side of the bed. “Nightstand. Got everything we need.”
The brief glimpses he’d gotten of Levi’s trim, muscle-packed body didn’t prepare Joe for the beauty of the man beneath the clothes. The first time he saw Levi mostly naked, he’d been sitting with his grandmother in the apartment’s living room, watching Levi peel off not only his jeans but the human skin he lived in, revealing the wolf beneath. The strangeness of that lingered, mostly in the back of Joe’s thoughts, in a ball of wonder he didn’t dare poke at. He was falling for the man pressed against him, their mouths finding stretches of skin to nibble at and kiss, their fingers stroking at wet spots made slick from tongues and then the salty-bitter moisture of their arousal spreading over velvety heads.
Joe’s jeans were shed with some difficulty, his rigid cock refusing to get out of the way, and Levi’s laugh at their struggles was nearly as erotic as the kiss that followed. The snap of a lubricant bottle opening and the feel of warming oil on his fingers tightened something in Joe’s chest. He needed this, needed the laughter and the intimacy with a man who faced down the same demons and angels he did every day when he walked the city’s streets wearing a star and a gun. Levi seemed to understand everything Joe needed—from his deep love of family to the drive to keep those around him safe and happy.
The man could also make a mean ice cream, not something Joe would ever dismiss lightly.
Levi worried Joe’s lower lip, a tinge of pain hovering at the edge of the pleasure of Levi’s mouth on his. His skin, warmed by Levi’s roaming hands, grew sensitive to the touch, even the whorl of Levi’s thumbs over his nipples knitting a tightness into Joe’s belly. The unshaved scruff along Levi’s strong jaw left a nearly imperceptible stinging trail along Joe’s shoulder, the faint burn an Icarus-warning echo of flying too close to the sun, or in this case, a wolf shifter with the moon caught in his eyes and carrying a now complicated world on his shoulders.
His oil-slicked fingers skated over the curve of Levi’s powerful back, tracing down his spine before sliding around the rounded curves of his ass. Joe caught Levi’s gasp and traded a bemused chuckle for the sharp exhale when Joe dipped the tip of a finger against the soft curl of Levi’s entrance. Capturing Levi’s mouth with a deep kiss, he kept them pinned together, exploring Levi cautiously, easing his way past the clenched ring of muscle to the hidden heat beyond.
Levi lay sprawled on the bed, knees up and ankles resting on Joe’s hips, his fingers digging into Joe’s shoulders. The need in his eyes darkened Levi’s gaze, wrapping silken fingers around Joe’s desire. There was so much he longed to do with Levi, longed to do to Levi, and plenty he wanted done to him, but for now, they were falling into a comfortable rhythm, exploring each other’s skin while testing the limits of their control. Bending in closer, Joe nuzzled at Levi’s neck, kissing and nipping at his throat, then his collarbone as he began to work his way in.
Stretching across Levi and trapping the heat of the man’s body against his skin brought Joe to the edge. He needed to take his time, even as his desire bit into his control, shredding the thin hold he had on himself into tiny pieces. Levi writhed beneath him, throwing his head back with a long hissing growl. And Joe rubbed and pushed, accompanying each tiny intrusion with a kiss or lick to Levi’s exposed throat or firm muscle.
“Jesus!” Levi choked out, dropping his head to Joe’s shoulder as Joe stretched him with a pull of his finger. “Shit, it’s been a long time. Just… go slow. Or fast. Don’t know if I can take slow.”
“Slow’s definitely how I like things,” he whispered into Levi’s ear, shivering at the feel of the cool sheath Levi rolled down his shaft. “Let me take care of you this time. I’ll go as gently as you need.”
They found a pace, one they could roll their hips into nearly as soon as Joe slid the head of his cock into Levi’s heat. A few strokes in and he was seated deep, curled over Levi’s taut torso, his lover’s shins resting on his trembling thighs while Joe held still to let Levi adjust to the stretching of his body around Joe’s cock.
The roll of Levi’s hips into him proved to be too much for Joe. With each downstroke, Levi tightened around him, twisting heat and velvet around Joe’s shaft, stroking at his head and length, with Joe alternately diving hard into Levi’s grip or prolonging their joining as much as he could.
Levi’s hands found Joe’s shoulders, fingers digging in until Joe was sure he’d have bruises when they were done. But it didn’t seem to matter, not when he was riding Levi’s passion, delving deep into the warmth and sensual pleasures he found there. Their mouths grew hot, kisses enflamed with more than desire. He’d found someone he understood, and Joe crested on the edge of an awareness of how life could be.
It wasn’t simply sex. They were too steady and mindful for casual intimacies anymore. Something was folding their lives together, hammering at the threads of steel and grit in their souls until they were stronger with each other than apart. Levi whispered into Joe’s ear, heavy sweet somethings about liking this, loving them, feeling Joe, and finding satisfaction and contentment in the slap of their damp skin and the laughter hidden in the passionate kisses they shared.
“Not letting you go,” Levi murmured, his words strained from meeting Joe’s long strokes with hard thrusts. “Shit, this is crazy. We’re—”
“Yeah, crazy but….” Joe gasped, reaching for the explosion rising up from his belly and balls, a tingle of fire and stars promising to consume him in a body-shaking orgasm. “Here we are. Too much alike, in two different worlds.”
There was so much more he wanted to say, to talk about, even as Joe knew he would lose his words in the storm brewing over them. The first lick of lightning hit him without warning, building up along the length of his cock, then stretching outward in a crackling thread when Levi’s teeth sank into his collarbone. It was a punch of sensation, enough to break him, and the pinprick of too-tight-skin feeling rippled over him.
Joe came in waves, the hot smear of his seed pushing far into the grasp of Levi’s body, caught against the thin membrane covering his shaft. He continued to rise and fall, bringing as much of himself into Levi’s depths, his right hand stroking at Levi’s hard cock, rubbing his thumb through the gush of hot silken fluid of his lover’s release. The scent of their spill and damp flesh mingled, erotic musk layered with the citrus notes of the soap they’d both used.
Joe’s orgasm gripped him, tear
ing apart his hold on his thoughts. Everything in him at that point was instinct, the need to bring Levi to completion, to hear his name on Levi’s lips, and to steal that bit of breath away from Levi’s mouth so he could hold it in forever. He was falling hard. Falling fast. Joe knew there was nothing he could do to stop it, and in the end, as his passion gripped him as tightly as Levi held Joe against his sweat-damp chest, Joe knew he never wanted to be let go.
They lay against each other, Joe shifting to roll over onto his side, but he held Levi close, sliding free of his body but not his embrace. Reluctantly, after a few minutes, Levi murmured about being too sticky, and they fumbled about with baby wipes from the nightstand and a near miss of the trash can with the now-discarded condom. Sensitive to the touch, Joe’s cock still responded when Levi swiped the damp paper square over its tender head. Joe’s stomach clenched and trembled with each careful caress.
“How about if you hold that thought until the morning? As much as I’d like to do a round two—and there’s going to be a round two—we’ve both had long freaking days,” Levi whispered, kissing the tip of Joe’s cock, then making a face. “Okay, bad idea. Seemed like a good one in my head, but that chemical taste ruined it. I’m going to have to get better-tasting wipes.”
“Or we could just use a washcloth,” Joe suggested, chuckling at Levi’s exaggerated distaste. “Come here. Sleep sounds good, but the morning sounds even better. We’ve got, what? Three condoms left? One more for me and two for you. Then after that, we’ll have to go to the store.”
“Or we can have them delivered,” Levi teased, then smirked. “Or better yet, we can ask your grandmother to go get us some, and when she gets here, you can ask her why she never told you about stregas or shifters or anything else that makes the world go a little bit crazy during the night.”