Except this place had nothing to do with packs or alphas, not in that sense, anyway. It was a club celebrating a festive night. I darted my tongue out, attempting to taste the air. It rarely worked, but sometimes it did, so it was worth the try. It tasted different, somehow, but not discernable enough for me. I exhaled as much as I could and sucked in a huge breath through my nose.
Anger.
There was anger somewhere, anger enough to cause violence. I looked for the nearest exit as a few security guards wove through the crowd and, suddenly, just like that, it was gone. I chose to believe it was because they managed to quell whatever was escalating. Shifters had tempers, some animals more than others. It just was the way it was.
I took another sip of my soda. My hands were already starting to get jittery from the caffeine and sugar. I’d have been better off copying the omega who’d been beside me and ordering milk.
I placed it on the counter and pulled out my cell phone to see if Basil was searching for me.
“No phones,” a bouncer walking past scolded.
“Sorry.” I mumbled, sliding it back into my pocket. I didn’t know it was a rule. Or maybe it wasn’t, and he was thinking I was doing something wrong. I didn’t even know.
“You ready?” Karma startled me. How a human in shoes so tall could sneak up on anyone was beyond me, yet there she was doing exactly that.
“Sure?” I slid off my seat. “May I ask for what?” When I’d gotten the invitation, I’d thought it simply meant I could get in this time, very much unlike the last time. Wrong.
“You may.” She cut through the crowds, and it took four steps for me to realize she’d out played me using my own words. When we stopped, I would ask her exactly what I was to be ready for, not if I could ask her. Duh.
The costumed partygoers almost looked like they were choreographed to sway out of her way as she walked. Me? Not so much. It took me at least double the effort to keep up with her. And yet, I couldn’t be mad about it. There was just something about her.
She finally stopped, and, at first, I assumed it was to allow me to catch up, but then she began introductions. And then it hit me. The scent. His scent. The scent made for me, the one telling me, without a single doubt, the man connected to it was my mate. I peered around to see who owned the blend of frankincense and lavender.
“Here he is.” She patted my shoulder, and my eyes followed hers.
The fates were smiling down on me. The older alpha, complete with Papa Bear hat and a tailored suit, checked every single box I had for physical preferences: hot. Yeah, I wasn’t overly specific in my desires for what my mate looked like. I just wished more than once I’d be one of the lucky few who found their true fated mates, and since I had, I kicked myself for wasting time on crushes and half-ass attempts at finding a boyfriend. Everything came down to this man—this alpha. And the crazy thing was, I didn’t know his name.
“Darius, this is Bruin. Bruin, Darius.” She freed her arm and gave me a little push toward the man in front of me. Not that I needed one. I could barely hear his name over my dumb-ass animal’s insistence on yelling at me he was our mate.
“You two be good now…don’t do anything my mate and I wouldn’t do. Not without video.”
Video? Gulp.
And on that note, she danced away, although it wasn’t technically dancing, but her gracefulness gave it all the same attributes.
Was that what this entire thing was? Karma’s way of giving me my fated mate or vice versa or whatever? It sounded farfetched, and yet that was exactly what she’d done. Maybe her other-ness was fae. They had so many abilities far surpassing ours as shifters.
“Nice to meet you, Darius. Want to get a drink?”
“Yes!” I snapped my mouth shut at my zeal. Zeal at something I didn’t want. I wasn’t planning on drinking. I wanted to remember every single second of tonight. “I mean, sure, it would be nice.” My attempt at correction amused him enough he gave me a grin, one having me willing to beg for a nibble of those lips.
“This way.” He led me not to the bar, but to the dance floor. I was confused to say the least.
“I thought we were going to the bar?” He didn’t answer me with words. Instead, he leaned in and kissed me. No, that wasn’t right. He didn’t kiss me, he possessed my lips, and by the time our lips broke apart, my knees weak and my body breathless, all I wanted to do was ask him to be my Papa.
And I might have, too, if he didn’t yank me to his body to get me out of the way of some annoying kids—kids who were probably my exact age. So, adults?
He took a step back after they were past, and I gave a quick peek around the area, and when deeming it good enough, pulled on my pants enough to give my cock breathing room. Darn thing had been hard as a rock at first scent, and I had a feeling nothing but his knot would remedy the situation.
“Let’s get that drink.”
“Okay. I want a carrot juice and vodka.”
He chuckled, and, for half a second, I wondered if he thought it was my bad attempt at a joke. It hadn’t been, but it had been a bad idea. Carrot juice was fine—one of my favorites from the year my mom accidentally grew enough carrots for the universe, thinking she was planting baby carrots. I still teased her about how she ruined me, turning me into a rabbit. Fair to say I hadn’t thought out my costume as much as might’ve been prudent.
“Oh, sure. We’ll see if the bar has any carrot juice.”
I didn’t know if he read my expression or just changed his mind, but instead of going to the bar, I found him kissing me once more. So much better than a drink.
“Let’s go to the party. But afterward, I’d like to invite you back to my place for… Well, I don’t have any carrot juice, but maybe coffee?”
“Papa, let’s not dance too long.” And…I changed everything. I hadn’t meant for it to come out all lusty and sex. I’d simply read his hat, and yet, once the words passed through my lips, they took on their own life. Papa. Submission had been in my blood…I’d always at least suspected that, but to feel it so tangibly with a simple word was the epitome of what meeting a true mate was, wasn’t it? He was my Papa—my papa. My bear begged to bare my neck. My cock begged, standing harder than should be physically possible. My hole begged for him.
One word was all it took.
And it wasn’t one-sided. No, not even close. His eyes darkened in an instant as the word escaped my lips.
“Do you need a papa?” Heck yeah I did. His lips brushed my ear, and a shiver ran through me. If a brush of his lips could manage that, what a nibble, a lick, a suck could do…?
I swallowed to buy a few seconds time. I did—my body sang with the need for one. But what that looked like? That was where I wasn’t quite sure. But wasn’t that what a Papa was for? To take care of the pesky thinking for me, to allow me to just be and to feel?
“Maybe?” I went for coy.
“Maybe what?” This time he ended his question with a nip on my earlobe.
“Maybe, Papa?” Damn, that felt right.
His animal growled so loudly inside of him I could hear him.
“My name is Darius, by the way.” True mates should know that stuff, right? It was just as important as getting naked, right? And maybe he’d had a hard time hearing the intro, too. Darn us for being in public.
“Nice to meet you, Bunny.” He intertwined our fingers together. “Maybe we’d be better off talking not in the middle of a shindig?” I just nodded. “Good. Let’s go back to where I am staying.”
Not home? I didn’t have time to ask, instead allowing him to lead me through the crowd and down a corridor that didn’t look like it was there until, suddenly, we were in it. I had a feeling Animals had a lot more secrets than I’d ever be privy to.
Chapter Five
Bruin
I was leading the omega toward my guest suite before I could convince myself it was a bad idea. And making him call me Papa. He didn’t object. In fact, I believed he’d done it before I asked. And I�
��d never played this game before. Sure, I was an alpha and geared to take the lead in romantic situations. But this, taking that alpha one more step into the land of Papa kink, this was different. Darius, in his silly bunny suit, somehow pushed my buttons in a way no omega ever had before and awoke a side of me I hadn’t thought to explore.
Mate.
And my pushy bear was right. I never thought to go beyond a little one night of fun because those men, and women on occasion, were nothing more than a good time. I hadn’t led them on. Sometimes, people got an itch that needed scratching. Nothing wrong with that.
But since I’d had a taste of Darius’ sweet lips and inhaled his intoxicating scent, the thought of anyone else got pushed away. He was mine. And I was his. I must’ve done something to please the fates to get such a gift.
We reached the doorway leading to the employee and guest rooms, all of which were part of the old shifter cave dwelling. It was magical there, and I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to bring someone back without checking first, but decided to beg forgiveness rather than ask permission. If I took long enough to find someone to ask, I’d explode. But I didn’t want to fail to ask permission of the most important person in this scenario.
Pausing just outside, where the cool night air whipped around us and the moon shone down, I brought Darius’s hand to my lips and kissed it. “Are you sure you want to leave? It’s the party of the year…”
He tipped his face up and gave me a small shy smile, the moonlight bouncing off his thick glasses making it impossible to see his eyes, but the words leaving his lips gave ample consent. “Yes, please, Papa. I think I need to go to bed.” His hand squeezed my ass. I loved how free he was with me while offering his submission. It was a heady mix.
“So you do, do you?” I did, too. There was nothing I wanted more than to sink inside his body and give him my knot and my mark, but I also wanted the evening to last. “I think you’re a little dirty to be getting into bed so soon. Don’t you?” I turned his hand over and gave the palm a critical study, hoping the lines would be enough to distract me from picturing him naked. They weren’t. “I think this bunny needs a bath first.”
He froze then nodded so hard I was afraid he’d injure his neck. “Does the bath fit two?”
I nodded.
“Do you have bubbles?” How he turned a little question into the sexiest thing I’d ever heard was beyond me.
I had some shower gel that foamed pretty well on the sponge. I thought it would do. Thank you, Karma, for assigning me the suite with the big bathtub! “Yes, I have bubbles, but they are only for very good bunnies.” I playfully slapped his hand down, the one reaching for my cock. If he did, I’d be as good as done—for a while anyways. I had a feeling with Darius I would be insatiable.
His grin broadened. “I want to be a very good bunny, Papa.” Reaching for his junk, he pulled me away from the club. “I am a dirty, dirty bunny, though.” He went to drop to his knees, and I stopped him. I’d look back on this moment and kick past me’s ass, but when I came for the first time, I needed it to be inside of my mate, and I had a feeling his lips held far more magic than the entryway had.
“Well, once we get you undressed, I’ll have to inspect and see how dirty you are.” My cock throbbed. “Do you want to get naked?” I crossed my fingers the direct statement would undo the flicker of hurt I saw when I stopped him from dropping. “Because I can think of nothing I want more than to see your body void of these clothes, as adorable as you look in them. Your slender body, your firm ass, that cock that doesn’t want to stay contained in your clothing, I want to see it all—to lick it all—to explore every inch of you.”
He groaned, and it was all I could do to contain myself.
He turned to face me again. “I want it so much.”
“Let’s go, then.” I pulled him to my side. “But since you don’t know where we’re going, maybe let me lead the way.”
I could see him flush even in the night. I could also see his penis jutting straight out from his body, tenting the plush rabbit suit. “Yes, Papa. I forgot I didn’t know where to go.” From the looks of things, there was a strong chance he forgot a whole lot more. I only planned to make that condition worse.
I suppressed a grin. Did other couples hit it off this fast?
Couples? We’d just met, and I was leaving in the morning. We weren’t a couple. But with his fingers curled trustfully in mine, it was easy to toss aside those thoughts. To pretend the man my bear growled was our mate would be with us forever. I wasn’t a rolling stone crossing the globe for work, with so little time at home, I was considering selling my townhouse and giving up on pretending I had a base. We’d wake up together tomorrow and the next day and the next.
Or maybe I’d been going about this the wrong way. Instead of running myself ragged and turning down half the jobs available to me because I couldn’t fit them in, I should be thinking less like my employee and more like an employer.
“Here we are.” We traversed one stone walled corridor then another, taking a left branch then a right. These dwellings went well into the core of the mountain, original caves expanded as the ancient shifters needed more room for their offspring and their offspring’s offspring. From what I understood, there were sections the new owners hadn’t been in yet, having to concentrate on getting the club going before they had the time to do so. They also took their time, not wanting to damage such precious space. I opened the door to my suite and waved Darius inside.
“It wasn’t locked?” he asked, looking nonplussed. “Aren’t you afraid someone will break in?”
I guided him inside and closed the door behind me. “How could they break in if there is no lock?”
“I mean…well, come in then, and steal your stuff.”
I shook my head. “No, nobody can do that.” I led him toward the door opposite and inside the bathroom. “The owners have wards in place that sort out intent. If someone plans to do wrong, they’d never make it into the tunnels.”
“Oh.” Darius gave a little shudder. “I think I felt something as we came inside. A tingle kind of?”
“Maybe. I’ve heard some have that reaction as they pass the barrier.” I pushed him to sit on the little bench along the stone walled bathroom then turned on the water to fill the deep tub. As the clear liquid splashed into it, the surface revealed gemstones inset, some ancestor’s treasure trove cast in smooth concrete or whatever version of it they’d had. Maybe a dragon horde? I thought most of the shifters here in the past were bears, but stranger things had happened.
I planned to use my gel, but then I noticed a jar marked Lavender Sandalwood Bubble Bath sitting on the rim of the tub. Had that been there all along? I had only taken one bath since my arrival, after a day of crawling around on the roof of the club, but I hadn’t seen the jar. Perhaps it was a timely offering. “Do you like lavender and sandalwood bubbles, Bunny?”
“No bubble gum scented?” he asked, and I must have gaped because he laughed. “Kidding. I think it would make me gag. What you have there sounds nice, Papa.”
I poured a long stream of the silky bubble bath into the tub, and immediately, foam formed. As the level rose in the tub and the aroma filled the air, I turned my attention to preparing the bunny for his wash.
“Stand up, mate.” I offered a hand to assist him, and he took it. “Ready to be naked in the bubbles?”
“Yes.” He turned around and reached over his shoulder to point to the zipper down his back. “Here’s how you open it.”
“First, why don’t we take off these ears.” I lifted them from his head. “No point in getting them wet.” I ruffled his hair with my fingertips. “So silky, but we’ll need to shampoo it.” I grasped the zipper and pulled it down, revealing skin every bit as silky as that hair, and, as I passed the top of his buttocks, I saw no sign of anything under the fuzzy pink suit. “Tsk. You are a naughty . No underpants?” No wonder his cock was so obvious before. “I think it might be a good reason for Papa to give
you a little spanking.”
“No, please, Papa. I don’t want a spanking.” Although his tone and the excited quiver in his voice told me the exact opposite.
“How many time did you go out of the house like this?” And please let him continue to do so.
“Uhhh…” He hesitated a moment. “Five times?”
I eased the fabric off his shoulders and down his arms. “Try again.”
“Ten?”
Stroking his bare chest, I took the outfit down to hand around his waist. “Last try. And be honest.”
He began to count on his fingers. I might not know him well but could see it as the theatrics it was. “One thousand, three hundred fourteen.” He was getting into the game. I swallowed a chuckle. “Plus three, Papa.”
“Plus three.” Resting my palms on his hips, I took a seat on the bench and brought him between my legs. “Clever. But I think for a bunny who has been told so many times, and still has a bare bottom”—I pushed the suit over his hips and down his legs to puddle at his ankles—”a reminder is in order—a spanking.”
“A spanking?” Darn, he sounded hopeful.
“Lie across my lap here, and we’ll get the punishment taken care of before your bath and naptime.” I was into this, too.
“Yes, Papa.” Darius shifted and bent forward to place himself over my thighs. His bottom stood up high and round, begging for my attention. “Is it going to hurt?”
“What do you think, mate?”
“I think it might. Or it might feel good. Or a combination of both. The books were unclear.” So, my sexy omega had researched spankings. I was so going to make it good for him.
I pressed his head down and looked at him lying there, the fuzzy suit tangled around his ankles, his back smooth and straight, skin pale and unmarked. The first spank marred it, leaving a clear print of my hand. He jerked.
“What’s wrong?” I rubbed where I’d spanked, ready to continue but wanting to make sure he was still all-in. “Do you want me to stop?”
Papa Bear for Darius Page 3