Marked

by Sean Michael

  Cody reared back. “What?”

  “They made you go and they were wrong. Now we can prove it to them—we have our lives, Cody, the ones we dreamed of that first night.”

  “No. No, I won’t go back. I’ll never go back there. Not now. Not ever.”

  “What? Why not?” Barker frowned at him. “That’s our home. You came back time and again before.”

  “I won’t see the Elders.” He shuddered and pulled away, stood. They’d burned him, cut him, driven him away.

  “They’re going to want to see you. I think they’re kind of going to insist.” Barker got up, too. “We can’t just not go back. It’s our home.”

  “No. It’s your home. I don’t have one.” That had been made perfectly, impeccably clear.

  “Of course you do—with me. You’re my mate.”

  Cody sighed, shook his head. “There isn’t a place for me there.”

  “Of course there is—you’re my mate.” Barker kept repeating that as if it was the answer to everything.

  “I’m not seeing them. Period. Ever.”

  “Fine. You’re still coming home with me. I told you I’m not letting you get away again.” Barker’s chin had a stubborn set to it.

  Stubborn was something Cody excelled at. “We’ll see.”

  Barker grabbed his arms and pulled him into a hard kiss. “You’ll see.”

  “You can’t solve everything with sex.” A lot, sure, just not everything.

  “I’m just proving you’re mine is all.”

  He couldn’t help but wonder what his life would have been like if he’d been Barker’s from the beginning.

  Barker frowned at him. “You’re thinking.” It almost sounded like an accusation.

  “People with brains do that.” Sometimes.

  “Well, I wouldn’t know about that.” Barker winked at him.

  “About having brains?” He grinned back, loving that the tension was easing.

  “Yep.” Barker crossed his eyes and let his tongue hang out for a minute before saying, “Braiiiiiiiiiiins.”

  Cody burst out laughing, launching himself into Barker’s arms. Such a neat man. He’d missed playing, so badly. They’d played together since they were boys. Barker fell back onto the bed, bringing him down as well, grinning at him. His fingers dug into Barker’s ribs, searching out ticklish spots.

  “Fuck!” Barker swore and wriggled, trying to get away.

  He chuffed softly, digging in deeper. Barker’s laughter got louder; he wriggled harder.

  “I’ve got you now!” Cody leaned down, nipping at one nipple.

  Barker jerked, still laughing, hands moving to hold him in place. Jesus, the son of a bitch was strong. “I’ve got you now.”

  Something deep inside Cody shivered, his cock going suddenly, painfully hard. Barker growled softly and tugged his head up so they were kissing again, the man eating his mouth like he was the best feast ever. He undulated, their cocks sliding together, and his eyes rolled.

  “Can you feel it?” Barker asked, biting at his chin. “The beast inside you?”

  “Yes.” His hands curled, claws dragging along Barker’s sides.

  Jerking against him, Barker got toothier, biting at his chin, his jaw, mouth moving along his neck. Sounds started sliding out of Cody, bubbling from him.

  “Mine. Mine.” The word was growled against his skin, made a part of each bite. Every time the word echoed in him, he wanted to scream, to howl. “Could spend the rest of my life proving it to you.”

  “Okay.” Cody could live with that.

  That had Barker laughing before those sharp teeth scraped over his skin, over marks and bruises already left on his throat by his lover.

  “Burns. I’ll look like a leper.”

  “No, you’ll look like you belong to someone.”

  “No. Not someone. You.”

  “Yeah. Yeah, that’s right. Me. My mate.” Barker nipped his earlobe. “Want you. It’s like the last ten years of needing you are bottled up inside me and it all has to come out.”

  “I wanted to be yours. The entire time.”

  “It’s what I wanted, too.” Barker shook his head. “You’re here now.”

  He nodded, but the worry and the shame were still right there, just beneath the surface. It wasn’t easy to let go of ten years of it.

  Barker growled and pushed him into the mattress. “Mine. Beautiful. Whole. Special.”

  “Different. I’m not like others of our kind.” They could still reject him because of it.

  “Special.”

  “Odd.”

  “Stubborn.”

  “Undesirable.”

  Barker snorted, cock hard, digging into his hip as Barker pushed it against him. “Very desirable.”

  “That’s not what I meant…” He groaned, fingers sliding over the tip.

  Barker licked his lips and moaned softly. “I win.”

  “Hmm?” Cody brought his fingers to his lips, sucking them clean.

  “Fuck it. We both do.”

  “Do what?” God, he loved that flavor.

  “Win.”

  Barker’s tongue tangled with his own, pulling the flavor right off it. Cody found himself lost again, focused only on the way Barker’s teeth felt, the way Barker’s mouth tasted, the way they fit together.

  “Taste it from the source.” Barker rolled as he spoke, body hard and gleaming in the sun streaming through the windows, cock hard, red, and once again slick at the tip.

  “Bossy fucker.” He swooped down, though, and sucked the stiff prick into his mouth.

  “Uh…huh.” The words were lost in a groan, Barker’s fingers threading through his hair.

  All Cody knew was that taste and the way it filled his mouth. More groans filled the air, Barker’s hips began to thrust, pushing the thick meat deeper into his mouth. Part of him thought he should protest when Barker’s fingers clenched in his hair. The rest of him sucked harder.

  “Mate. Mate.” That chant started again, and it touched something deep inside him.

  He would do anything for this man, anything he could.

  “Soon,” whispered Barker, fingers rubbing his scalp.

  Cody let his lips sink all the way to the base of Barker’s cock, swallowing around the tip.

  “Mate!” Barker’s shout was the only warning he got, his mate driving in even further and coming down his throat.

  Bitter and salty, male and hot—Cody swallowed his mate down. Barker jerked a few more times, dribbles coming from him, and then his mate relaxed back against the bed, all but purring.

  Cody settled in, eyes closing. Somewhere, his tail was wagging.

  Chapter Seven

  Barker stretched and grabbed both his and Cody’s bags, taking them to the truck. They’d spent the third night of the moon running and hunting and playing together. Now the full moon was over and it was time to go home, to start their life together. It would be easier if Cody would lose the fur.

  He put his hands on his hips. “Are you planning on staying like that for the whole trip?” Frankly, he was kind of jealous.

  Cody slumped down on the threshold of the cabin, tail thumping.

  “Okay, okay, but I’m putting clothes in the cab for you in case you decide to change back while we’re on the road.” The last thing they needed was to get stopped because Cody was naked.

  Cody yawned, head coming to rest on his paws.

  “Come on. It’s time to go.” He locked up the cabin and headed for the truck, opening the passenger door for his stubborn, canine lover. Cody stared at him. Oh, yeah, so stubborn.

  “Come on, Cody. Get in the damn truck.”

  That heavy tail just wagged.

  “Don’t make me carry you.”

  Cody actually bared teeth at him.

  “Damn it, Cody, we can’t stay here all the time.” It was fine for a wolf, not so much for humans—and, unlike his mate, he had no choice in the matter.

  Cody stared at him, and he stared back. H
e was the Alpha, damn it. Cody would respect that.

  “Get. In. The. Truck.” He refused to look away. Thank goodness, Cody’s eyes dropped and Cody slinked toward the truck.

  Shaking his head, Barker followed, closing the passenger door as soon as Cody jumped up onto the seat. Moving around, he climbed in and started the engine. Cody grumbled and barked, telling him off in the clearest possible terms.

  “Uh-huh.” He could pretend he didn’t understand; if Cody wanted to talk to him, the man could damn well shift. “I like burgers, too, and I’ll make sure we pick some up at the first drive-through we see.”

  A low rumble filled the cab. He glanced over and couldn’t resist reaching for his mate, sliding a hand through all that great fur. Cody groaned then settled, his head on Barker’s thigh. Smiling, he continued to stroke Cody’s fur, patting the sweet head.

  “You’re beautiful, Cody.”

  His thigh was given a soft lick.

  “I still can’t believe you can change whenever you want.” His magical mate, furry in the sunlight.

  Cody sighed again, tail thumping slowly.

  “Must be nice.” Maybe it was a reward for Cody having been in so much pain for so long.

  Cody groaned, and he could see the process starting, his lover coming back to him. It was fascinating, the muscles jerking, the fur twitching. Barker couldn’t imagine doing it simply because he chose to.

  He hummed softly, trying to encourage, to help. “Come on, babe. I want to be able to talk to you and have you back talk me, yeah?”

  Cody’s panting filled the cab, the sound almost pained, but then his mate was there, solid, naked.

  “Man, you’d better put on those clothes I tossed in for you before I pull the truck over and fuck you right now.”

  “You couldn’t…couldn’t get it up again.”

  He glanced over, admiring Cody’s body. “That wasn’t a challenge, was it?”

  Cody nuzzled him. “You’re driving.”

  Fuck, his mate was sexy. “I’m going to pull over any second now.” Sexy and naked. And close. And right there. “Put the clothes on, Cody.”

  “Bitch.” Cody nipped his arm then draped himself over the back of the seat, looking for the clothes.

  “Fuck.” He pulled the truck over and pounced.

  Cody yelped as Barker bit into one taut ass cheek. “Hey!”

  He laughed and did the other cheek.

  “No biting! You fucker! I’ll turn into a werewolf!”

  Oh, God, that was funny. He couldn’t bite again, he was laughing so hard. Cody landed in his arms, clothes in hand, laughing just as much as he was.

  “Dork,” he accused.

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Cody cuddled in, panting hard. “But I’m cute.”

  “You are fucking cute.” Barker ran his hands over Cody. “Pretty damn sexy, too.”

  “We should go before the cops drive by.”

  Damn it, Cody was probably right.

  “Get some clothes on then.”

  Cody rubbed against him for another second then pulled away. Barker sat back in his seat and willed his prick to behave as he moved the truck back onto to the road. Cody slipped into a pair of worn jeans but left the shirt off. Cody slid a hand up along his thigh, petting him.

  “You’re tempting fate.” God, the man could get him all hot and bothered just by sitting there half-dressed.

  Cody chuffed with laughter, head thrown back. “That’s what I do!”

  Grinning, he shook his head. “How have I lived without you for the last ten years?” Fate, he thought, owed them.

  “You did okay. I saw.” There was a decade of sorrow in those words.

  “I wish I’d known you were there.” He should have felt Cody or something. Wasn’t that how it was supposed to work?

  Cody shrugged. “It wouldn’t have helped you. I needed to watch you. I couldn’t not.”

  “It might have made me refuse to let you go sooner. Maybe that’s what you needed to change.”

  “I don’t know. I tried everything.”

  “So what happened this time? It’s not like it’s the first time we’ve mated.”

  “I…We never have like this.”

  “It’s different up here, isn’t it? Like…natural.” Like nothing could touch them.

  “We’re different. You’re different.”

  Of course Cody was different. He could still remember the howls of pain, the agony. The glowing eyes, always halfway there, never one or the other.

  “I don’t know if I’m any different.”

  “You are. You’re more present.” Cody slipped out of the seat belt, pressed closer.

  Barker wrapped an arm around Cody. “That’s because I didn’t let you run away this time.”

  “I wanted you to kill me.”

  He growled low in his throat. “No. You’re mine. I couldn’t.”

  Cody growled back. “I suffered for ten years. I deserved mercy.”

  “No. You deserved this. To be whole. To be who you really are.”

  Cody shuddered, breath coming quicker. “It was real, wasn’t it? I had a tail.”

  “Are you kidding? A tail, the most amazing coat, and you could fucking do it during the day. You could do it now.”

  “I could. I think I could.”

  “You could. You do remember being four-legged and not wanting to get into the truck about five minutes ago? You so can change whenever you want. A new breed, man. You’re special.”

  Cody leaned on him, panting a little bit.

  “So, you’re staying with me. You know my place is big enough for two.”

  “For a couple of days, yeah, if that’s cool.”

  “No, that’s not cool. Drop the couple of days and we’re good.” Barker took his eyes off the road to glare into Cody’s. “You’re staying with me. Period. You’re my mate.”

  “If I decide to…”

  He loved the flush on Cody’s cheeks.

  “If you decide to what?”

  “Stay with you. I’ve been on my own a long time.” Cody tugged his shirt on, his socks.

  “You’ve been watching me for a long time.” He didn’t want to argue about this. Cody was his mate and there was no reason for him not to stay anymore.

  “Yes. Yes, I have. I tried never to interfere.”

  “So, clearly, being close to me is something you want. Just like I want you with me. So there’s no deciding—it’s a done deal.”

  Cody sighed, grabbing his boots. “Shit. What if we can’t live together?”

  “Why are you borrowing trouble? We’ll do fine.”

  Cody just stared at him.

  “What?”

  “You’re so fucking bossy, asshole.”

  “That’s because I’m the Alpha.”

  Cody was going to have to get used to it.

  “Uh-huh.” Cody didn’t sound convinced.

  It made him growl a little. When Cody growled back, it surprised the hell out of him. Another sound rumbled through him, the beast inside him responding to his mate. Cody’s eyes flashed, began to glow. Jesus. Jesus, he was going to have to pull over again.

  “Am I about to have a lap full of wolf?”

  “I…I don’t know. I can’t…” Cody growled low and deep, shivering.

  He frowned. “You can’t control it?” That growl, it went straight to his balls.

  “Not so well. It’s new.” Cody leaned against him, sweating now, eyes closed.

  “You know, I can’t control it at all. During the full moon, it comes; during the day, it goes.”

  “I…Yeah. Yeah, I guess that’s right. I can, a little.”

  He wanted to howl at the words, at Cody taking pride in himself. “I bet you’ll get better at it, too. With practice.”

  Cody shrugged, panting against him. “How long ‘til we stop?”

  “It’s another few hours into the city. What do you need to stop for?”

  There were a couple places along the way if Cody wanted
to eat, or rest stops if he needed to change and run.

  “I…I need to get out of the truck.”

  “What’s wrong with my truck?”

  Cody’s eyes flashed, face lengthening. “Nothing! I just…”

  “Okay, babe. I’ll get you to outside. No running away, though, I can’t change with you.” He slowed the car, pulling off onto the ditch.

  “I swear. I swear.” There was no other traffic, and Cody was writhing, hands desperately tugging at the clothing.

  Barker put on his hazards and helped Cody with the clothes, fingers pushing buttons through loops and helping his lover get naked.

  “Thank you. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” There was more than a hint of panic in Cody’s voice.

  “Shh. It’s okay.” He leaned past Cody and opened the door.

  “Mate. Mate.” Cody crouched on the seat, rippling. “Hungrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…”

  His mate shuddered, shook, then the wolf was there—huge and strong and stunning.

  “There. Okay. There you go. God, you’re beautiful, Cody.” He reached out, stroking, rubbing. “It’s okay. You can go out, but don’t go far.”

  Cody leaped down, running around, tail in the air. Barker admired the wolf. God, his mate truly was gorgeous.

  True to his word, Cody stayed close enough to be seen, coming back to him again and again. Leaving the hazards on, Barker climbed out and leaned against the passenger side of the truck.

  Cody—romped. There was no other word for it. Bouncing and barking, running and playing—it was something to see. Barker laughed, enjoying this immensely.

  “Must be nice. To do that in the sunshine.”

  Cody looked over at him, panting, laughing at him.

  “Butthead. Lucky butthead.” He kind of wished they didn’t have to go back. If the cabin was in better shape, wasn’t so bare bones, they could stay out there more, let Cody run and run.

  Somehow, he thought that convincing Cody to go back to the Clan was going to be harder than convincing the wolf to get into the truck. He was hoping being able to thumb their noses would be a good incentive.

  He knew he wanted to. He wanted to march right in there with his mate and stick out his tongue and go “Neener, neener.” Show off his amazing, strong mate, tell them how proud he was, how perfect Cody was.