by Ardy Kelly
David splayed his arms and legs as he leaned against the door. He flinched when Chet’s hands touched his sides.
“Awfully jumpy for someone who claims to be innocent.”
“I haven’t been innocent since high school.”
Chet’s hands moved up David’s body. “You’re warm.”
“Wolves run warm. Are you just noticing that?”
“No,” Chet replied. “Just thinking how nice it will be this winter.” He slid his hands along David’s hips and pressed his body against him. Nipping at his ear, Chet asked, “You’re not concealing any weapons, are you?”
“It’s not as concealed as it was just a minute ago.”
Chet slid an arm between David’s legs, cupping his crotch through his pants. “You’re going to have to surrender this to me.”
“I’m kind of attached to it.”
“It’s better if I handle it. I don’t want it accidentally going off.” He grabbed David and perp-walked him to the bedroom. “We’re going to have to do a cavity search.”
“You won’t find anything but a good time.” David dropped to his knees. “Let’s start with the oral cavity.” He unzipped Chet’s pants, then struggled to free the rock-hard cock tangled in the boxer briefs.
Chet removed his belt and opened his pants. “Better let me handle the probe.” When his erection sprung free, David’s eyes followed its bobbing motion. Chet pressed on his cock until it lined up with David’s lips.
David took it in his mouth, rocking to coax the head deeper down his throat. Chet was keeping their fantasy fun. Free of the humiliation and head games Dominic played, David could relax and let the sheriff take the lead.
Chet’s fingers slid underneath David’s shirt, fondling his nipples. He jolted up, impaling his throat on Chet’s thick tool. Pulling back, he expelled the cock and coughed. “Sorry.”
“Didn’t know those were such a hot button for you.” Chet lifted David from the floor.
“Me, either.” David grabbed Chet’s tie to pull him in for a kiss. But after one pull, the material lay limp in his fist. “It’s a clip-on?”
“Regulation. Can’t let the bad guys get me by the neck.”
David rose, grinding against Chet as he ascended, his tongue leaving a slick trail up the man’s chest until it reached his mouth.
They devoured each other, only stopping when the sheriff tossed David on the bed.
“Damn,” David said, unbuckling his belt. “I never thought getting tossed like a football could be so hot.”
Chet smiled and stroked his cock. “Look what you’ve done to me.”
“I’ve got the same problem,” he replied, unzipping his pants.
“Trust me. It’s not a problem.” Yanking David’s pants off, Chet hooked his hands underneath and lifted the man’s legs. Never taking his gaze off him, he sucked one of David’s balls into his mouth. Trapping it between his lips, he bathed it with his tongue before moving on to the other.
Wrapping David’s legs over his shoulders, Chet’s tongue drew a line across the taint until it found the tight ring. He thrust his tongue against it, as if battering a castle keep.
David’s panting grew louder.
Chet reached for a bottle of lube in the stacked milk crates. He squirted some on his hand. “This might be a little cold, but you’ll warm it up quickly.”
He ran his slick fingers along David’s butt crack before pressing his thumb inside. He turned his wrist while sliding the digit in and out, making sure to lube the area soundly as he opened him up.
David bucked his hips, encouraging the teasing, bringing a smile to Chet’s face. He wrapped his slick hand around David’s cock, while exchanging his thumb for two fingers.
David pumped harder. “Fuck me.”
“Are you ready?”
“Damn,” David replied. “You know I am.”
Chet flicked the head of his cock across David’s entrance, relishing the sounds of his partner’s impatience.
“It’s not nice to tease me,” David whined.
“But it’s good, isn’t it?”
Rather than answer, David thrust his hips forward.
Chet lowered his head, watching his cock breach the puckered hole. He pushed his hips forward, gently easing inside. He watched David suck in a breath, and waited for the sign he hit his prostate. When David’s eyes popped open, the sheriff vowed to make them roll back in his head.
Each thrust landed a little deeper. A little faster. A little harder. One of Chet’s hands teased a nipple while the other stroked the sensitive spot on David’s neck.
David’s fingers tangled in the sheets as Chet stretched him open. His head tilted back, as he rocked his hips to deepen every thrust.
As their breathing synchronized, a curious connection formed. When Chet wrapped his hand around David’s thick shaft, he felt increased sensitivity in his own cock. When David reached for Chet’s nipples, his tingled also. It was as if they had created a feedback loop of sensations. Every pleasure they gave their partner was shared.
When Chet’s prostate throbbed, he fell on top of David. Their chests rubbed against each other, lubricated by the sweat from the sensual exertion. The friction, both inside and out, overloaded their senses.
David stared the sheriff in the eye as he focused on his butt. Relaxing his ass as Chet plunged in, he squeezed his muscles when the man pulled back. The effort was rewarded with a harmonized “Oh, God,” as Chet pumped David’s cock.
Orgasms shuddered through both their bodies with an intensity neither had ever experienced.
They lay together, panting heavily. Chet gently ran his fingertips against David’s neck. “Keep doing that, and I’ll need you to fuck me again,” David whispered.
Chet lifted his head just high enough to meet David’s lips for a kiss. “I’m counting on it.”
Chapter 13
The next morning, David awoke determined to get black-out shades for Chet’s bedroom window. He turned on his side, putting the morning sun behind him. The movement prompted the slumbering sheriff to place an arm over him as he snuggled against his back. Even in his sleep, the man is protective.
In the city, he could sleep through sirens, car alarms, and garbage trucks. But the sounds of nature proved to be a tougher obstacle. Birds chirped. A breeze ruffled the tree branches. Yet the sound of a babbling brook nearby was the real culprit. It was like a siren song to his bladder.
He slipped out from under Chet’s grip, and relieved himself.
Throwing on clean clothes, he grabbed his sketch pad. At the top, he wrote, “Our Dream Kitchen,” before catching himself. Not our. He scratched out the word and wrote Chet’s name.
Chet’s Dream Kitchen? Who am I kidding? The man doesn’t even cook. He ripped the page from the pad and tossed it in the trash.
There was no need to spend a fortune on a kitchen when David wasn’t sure how much time he would spend in Timber Crossing.
He stood at the French doors and gazed at the back of the lot. Past a metal shed stood a clearing with five concentric circles of rocks. The vortex.
He slipped on his shoes and opened the back door. Approaching the outside circle, he addressed the ground. “You and I need to talk.”
He stepped over the first circle of stones. The area didn’t look like fresh landscaping. The rocks were too uniformly weathered to have laid here any less than a hundred years.
Reaching the center, he stood with his back to the house. “I’m tired of getting information secondhand. If you have something to tell me, stop talking behind my back and speak up.”
There were no tremors, breeze, or mist that arose. David slowly rotated around, looking for a sign. All he found was Chet behind him. “You’re awake?”
Chet smirked. “I sensed a disturbance in the vortex.”
“I’m not a disturbance. I’m expressing my feelings about your magical crystal ball.”
“Has it answered?”
“Obviously it doesn’t want
to talk to me in front of you.”
Chet nodded. “I’m sure that’s it.”
“You could show me how you two carry on a conversation.”
Chet took hold of David’s hand. “It’s not a conversation. Just quiet your thoughts,” he instructed. “Close your eyes, and wait for an image to appear in your mind.”
As David quieted his thinking, a feeling flashed through his body. What if I don’t like what I’m going to see?
He shivered from the fear until Chet reached out and took hold of David’s free hand.
An image of himself drifting in water, his belly swollen beyond belief, entered his thoughts.
David gasped as he pulled his hands free. He stepped back, tripping on the rocks behind him.
Chet grabbed him before he could fall. “Are you all right? What did you see?”
David stared at his waist. “I’m pregnant.”
“We knew that.”
“Knowing and seeing are two different things.” He carefully stepped over the rocks before looking back at Chet. “It’s not just seeing, is it? You also sense feelings.”
Chet nodded. “Sometimes, if they’re strong emotions. What happened?”
David eyed the ground warily, stepping over the next circle. “Contentment. And it was the last thing I expected to feel.” He stopped. “I don’t know anything about babies. How am I supposed to be a father…or a…what?”
“A parent,” Chet finished. “It can’t be that hard. People do it every day.”
“People fly economy coach, too. That doesn’t mean I want to be crammed in the back of a plane.” His hands flew to his face. “Oh my God, I’m going to be one of those people who brings crying babies on a plane.” He shook his head in shame. “Karma’s a bitch.”
Chet wrapped David in a hug. “So, the feeling of contentment scared you?”
David’s arms hung lose at his side. “Maybe it was more about looking like the Loch Ness Monster.” His hands slowly rose up Chet’s back. “The vortex doesn’t brainwash you, does it?”
“No. I’m surprised you even experienced a vision.”
“I’m told I can be very persuasive.” David surrendered to Chet’s unwavering embrace. His arms encircled the sheriff and he breathed the man in. A second wave of contentment washed over him.
After a minute, David dropped his arms. “We can’t stand here hugging all day. I need to sketch out the kitchen before we head to the ranch.”
Chet let go. “How can I argue with someone so persuasive?”
They spent the morning drawing the plans and then drove to the nearest home improvement warehouse.
A smiling middle-aged female shifter in a brightly colored and ridiculously tight apron proved both surprisingly helpful, and annoyingly determined to bed Chet. That led to a discussion on the drive home.
“You shouldn’t have flirted back,” David said. “It just encouraged her.”
“You were jealous.” It wasn’t a question.
“I was not! But you…she… Is this going to happen every time we go out? Are you a compulsive flirt?”
Chet laughed. “Far from it. But I do like to see you get a little jealous.”
“I am not jealous.”
“I think you are.”
David fumed. “Why would you want to make me jealous?”
“Let’s me know where I stand. You aren’t big on expressing your feelings.”
“Morehouses don’t have feelings,” David explained. “We have traditions.”
“Don’t kid yourself. You’ve got feelings.”
David crossed his arms. “I guess annoyance is a feeling.”
Chet squeezed David’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. But you’re acting like finishing the house is a business venture. Sometimes I need a little reassurance. It kind of hurt my feelings that your vortex vision didn’t have me in it.”
David uncrossed his arms and took Chet’s hand. “You were in it. We were in the pool together.”
“You could have said something.”
David sighed. “So was Troy.”
Chet shook his head. “That you could have kept to yourself.”
David’s phone chirped with a text from Diana. “Dr arrived. Get ur butt here.”
“Call Mack,” Chet said. “Tell him to meet us at the guardhouse in an hour.”
Curiously, just as they arrived, Troy was strolling by. When Chet drove through the gate, Troy opened the passenger door. “Thanks, Sheriff Thompson. We’ll take it from here.”
David didn’t bother unfastening his seat belt. “I want him with me.”
Chet had already taken up a defensive position in front of David when Mack and Sarge approached. “We’re engaged,” Chet told them. “I have a right to be with him.”
Mack held up a hand. “You know the rules. Only those with shifter blood get past here.”
“You’re the alpha.” Chet stepped forward, stopping inches from Mack, his body posture radiating his challenge to the alpha’s authority. “You can change the rules.”
Mack had dealt with enough snarling wolves protecting their pregnant mates to not take it personally. In fact, he found the sheriff’s behavior adorable. “Not without discussing it with my pack.”
“Steven got on the ranch before you knew he was a shifter,” Troy said.
“He was Peter’s father. Raising a shifter is the exception.”
Troy nudged Chet. “I’m sure you’ve raised something of David’s, haven’t you?”
Chet pulled the badge from his shirt. Wrapping his hand around Troy’s wrist, he stuck the badge pin into the omega’s hand.
Troy yelped. “Ow. That’s my typing finger!”
A drop of blood broke the surface of the skin. Chet sucked it into his mouth and stared at Mack. “Okay. I’ve got shifter blood in me. Now get out of the way.”
Troy’s legs wobbled. “Sheriff Chet! I never took you for someone with a flair for the dramatic.”
Sarge turned to Mack. “He sure is acting like a wolf.”
Mack threw up his hands in mock resignation. “Troy, show him the way. I’ll stay here and answer the frantic phone calls we’re about to get about a human in our midst.”
“I’m not entirely human,” Chet added.
“None of us ever thought you were,” Mack replied. “By the way, did you threaten another shifter yesterday?”
David cursed. “Heard about that already?”
“Got a call from the alpha of the Bay Area pack. He mentioned a paternity issue.”
“We’re going to need your advice on that. Hopefully we can talk after the doctor visit.”
“I’ll find you.”
Troy was already in the backseat, full of enthusiasm, when Chet got behind the wheel. “These seats aren’t as roomy as I remember from my youth.” He looked at his finger. “Do you have a Band-Aid on you?”
“You don’t need to come with us.” Chet glared in the rearview mirror. “Just give me the directions.”
Troy fastened his seat belt. “I’m coming along to protect you.”
Chet stared at Troy quizzically. “You’re protecting me?”
“I’m your alibi if anyone wants to know why a non-shifter is prowling around the ranch. Otherwise they would eat first and ask questions later.”
“I doubt anyone would eat the sheriff,” David said.
“Don’t think it hasn’t been discussed.” Troy winked.
“Just tell me where to drive,” Chet replied in his most authoritative voice.
Troy leaned forward. “Robby is staying with Mack temporarily. Drive to the end of the road and turn left.” He sat back. “So how was your road trip?” He patted himself down. “Damn, I forgot a pen.”
“It was great,” David said. “We even met a shifter doctor.” He turned to glare at Troy. “Imagine our surprise. He said he knew quite a few just like him.”
“Oh, that.” Troy sighed. “Well, yes, there are lots of shifter doctors. I only lied because I’m playing cupid.”
“You’re risking me and my babies for a veterinarian’s love life?”
Troy shot forward on the seat. “Babies? You’re carrying Morehouse twins? How do you know already?” He squeezed his finger. “I’ve got to write this down, even if it’s with my own blood!”
“Troy,” Chet bellowed. “You can’t take chances with other people’s lives.”
Troy pursed his lips. “I liked you better before you got so dramatic. I already have a shifter surgeon on call, but don’t tell Robby. I needed to get him back on the ranch because it’s time Luke settled down. Oh, turn left here.”
“Who’s Luke?” David asked.
“Mack’s last single brother. I need to get him mated to finish the Alpha Brother’s at Lonesome Wolves Ranch trilogy. Though I’m not sure I’m going to have time to concentrate on it with the whole Pregnant Paws series taking shape. I’m still stuck on what supernatural creature to mate with my omega. Any ideas?”
“No,” Chet and David replied in unison.
“Here we are,” Troy announced. “The big house up ahead.”
Troy didn’t bother knocking. He threw open the front door and called out, “Company!” Chet and David followed him as he made a beeline to the kitchen.
They found Steven lying on a massage table. He was shirtless, revealing his mid-term pregnancy. He waved at his guest. “Be with you in a minute.”
A redheaded man stood with his back to the newcomers. He was rolling a device over Steven’s slick belly. “There’s your baby.” He pointed at the screen.
Troy rushed forward. “Let me see.”
“Looks like a boy,” the redhead said.
“Or it’s a girl and she’s giving you the finger.” Troy grabbed the redhead by the shoulder. “Robby! Look at you. You’re all grown up.”
“It’s just Rob,” the man answered, as if for the hundredth time.
“I don’t know why I can’t remember that,” Troy said. “Anyway, Chet and David, this is Doctor Robby.”
When the doctor turned, David held back a groan. “He looks younger than Doosy Howard,” he whispered.
“I think you mean Doogie Howser,” Chet whispered back.
The longer lifespan of shifters didn’t always spread itself evenly. Some would hold onto their twenties longer than others; some would appear to be in their thirties well past their fiftieth birthday. Rob would have gladly traded with any of them. His body was holding onto its teen years.