Gannon Morgan [Seven Brothers for McBride 2] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove)

by Anitra Lynn McLeod

  “Prisons?”

  “Right.”

  “I always thought they were like the thrall house.”

  “Not even close.” Gannon shook his head. “You lived in a big house where you had your own room, right?”

  “Once I was old enough, yes. But before then I was in the dorm area with all the other boys my age.”

  “A prison is like living in your own room but all day long. The only time I saw the other slammers was when we gathered in the cafeteria for meals.” Gannon shivered when he remembered the awful food. Cold, gloppy, and generally unpleasant, he’d only eaten it because there was nothing else and the hunger pains were worse than the rank taste of the food. “Well, I saw them when we did public work projects, too, but we couldn’t really talk then.”

  “They wouldn’t let you?”

  “No. The work was too hard to carry on conversations. Anyway, I knew my brothers were decanted from the same pair of men as me, but I never knew anything about either of my fathers. Most slammers don’t. The prison keeps brothers loosely together, hoping to sell a large group to a gentryman for a higher profit.”

  “You stayed in your room all the time?”

  “For the most part, yeah. That’s why when Jonas bought us and we went to his house it was hard to adjust. I think it was hardest on Caleb.” Gannon explained how Caleb had felt exposed and vulnerable being on the outside of the big prison walls.

  “I would think he would be happy to have a certain measure of freedom.”

  “I don’t think that was how he felt. In the prison, our time was our own, and we were able to do what we wanted to do in our rooms. I had a gamer, and I was pretty happy. But whatever Caleb did, he couldn’t do on the outside.”

  “You don’t know what your brother did all day?”

  “No. My other brothers told me what they did, but Caleb never told anyone.”

  “Was it something wrong?”

  “I don’t think so. You can’t get the products needed to do something illegal, but whatever it was, Jonas must have taken it away from him or something because Caleb hated Jonas.”

  “Maybe he just resented being owned.”

  “I don’t think so.” Gannon considered. “Anyway, Jonas was going to send Caleb back, but he changed his mind. I don’t know what changed it, but Caleb was left alone in his room.”

  “That’s not telling me how you got the scar.”

  “I’m getting there, but you keep interrupting and getting me off track.” Gannon kissed the tip of Alden’s nose. “Now, where was I? Right. Caleb was safely locked away in his room while the rest of us had the run of Jonas’s massive house. We helped with chores, but there weren’t a lot as Jonas had mechanical servants.”

  “He must have been very wealthy.”

  “He was. Or seemed to be. But then things started to change. Furniture went missing. And then the rugs, the paintings, and the household items like lamps disappeared. It was like they would be there one day then gone the next.”

  “How strange.”

  “It was. One night I heard something, and I was curious if I could solve the mystery of the disappearing stuff. I snuck downstairs, but I didn’t see what I was expecting.” Gannon recalled that moment and the shock that had made him gasp, turning the men’s attention to him. “My master, Jonas, was being fucked by a mechanical man while another man, a landed gentryman, watched.”

  Alden gasped, making pretty much the same noise Gannon had when he’d walked in on the scene.

  “The man who was watching rose and attacked me. He said he was going to cut out my eyes so I’d never see anything again.” Gannon traced the mark. “He would have blinded me if not for Ollie.”

  “Your twin?”

  Gannon nodded. “Ollie must have heard the noise, too, because the next thing I knew he flew down the stairs and attacked the man for hurting me. He swiped his blade across Ollie’s belly, giving him a scar.” Gannon traced a line across his own stomach. “And then the man was gone.”

  “You don’t know who he was or what happened to him?”

  “He was the neighbor. He never came around again. Jonas was frantically getting us help while the mechanical man just stood there.” Gannon shivered. “It was so strange the way his eyes seemed to follow Jonas wherever he went, but there was no emotion there.”

  “Did he disappear, too?”

  “No. Not too long after that event we moved out here to the tallos farm. Jonas was with McBride’s father, and he gave us the mechanical man.” Gannon lowered his voice. “I asked the robot once if he remembered me or what he’d done to Jonas, but I think Jonas had his mind erased because he had no idea what I was talking about.”

  “Where’s the robot now?”

  “Caleb fucked it to death.”

  Alden tenderly kissed the scar right as it dipped down and took a nick out of Gannon’s eyelid. “I’m sorry he hurt you.”

  “Do you think it’s ugly?” Gannon thought that was what had terrified Alden when he’d first seen him.

  “No. It doesn’t stand out that much. Jonas must have gotten a good surgeon.”

  “You really don’t—”

  “I was afraid at first.” Alden lifted up so that he could look Gannon more squarely in the face while they were lying in bed. “But not now. It’s just a part of you, like the way the sun bleaches your hair, or the way your nipples harden when you talk about your gamer.”

  “What?” Gannon looked down at his chest. His nipples were perfectly flat.

  “Tell me about your favorite game.”

  As Gannon described the complicated scenario, his nipples rose to attention.

  “See?”

  “I’ll be damned.” Gannon laughed. “I knew I loved to play games, but I didn’t realize I loved it that much.”

  “I think it’s cute.” Alden lowered his head and kissed each of Gannon’s nipples. “I just hope someday you’ll have the same reaction when you talk about me.”

  “Oh, I’m already there.” Gannon grasped Alden and rolled him onto his back. “But you don’t activate my nipples.”

  “No?”

  “Oh, no. You get my cock straining to make contact.” To prove his point, Gannon nudged Alden with his prick.

  “I’d much rather have control over your cock than your nipples.”

  “Who said anything about control?”

  Alden lowered his head but then looked up at Gannon. It was seductively submissive. When he asked Gannon to get on his back, he couldn’t roll over fast enough. Once he was situated, Alden inserted a greaser. He straddled his hips and then wiggled his tight little ass until Gannon was practically begging him for release.

  “You’ve proven your point.”

  “Is that what I was doing?” Alden wrapped both his hands around Gannon’s cock, but he didn’t move them.

  “I—what were you doing?”

  “I was just sitting here, minding my own business, when your hard cock started poking me.”

  “I’ll try not to do that again.”

  “Try?”

  “I’ll try real hard?”

  Alden’s fists squeezed around his cock. “Talk about hard.”

  Gannon forgot what they were talking about when Alden stroked his hands up and down the length of Gannon’s cock. When he shimmed back so he could bend over and lick at the tip, he pretty much forgot his own name. Alden did things with his mouth and hands that had Gannon prepared to surrender everything he owned to him.

  “You’re lucky that all I want is you.”

  “That’s all?”

  “That’s all.” Alden moved up so that he was balanced with his tight buttocks right above Gannon’s thoroughly tormented prick.

  “I’m yours.”

  “All of you?” Alden asked, lowering himself so that the split in his bottom was right above Gannon’s cock.

  “All of me. Right down to the last cell in my body.”

  Grinning, Alden rose, causing Gannon to groan. His disappointme
nt turned quickly into ecstasy when Alden angled Gannon’s cock toward his hole. So slowly it was like a dream, Alden sank down.

  Bit by bit Gannon filled his mate’s ass, all the while looking right into his eyes. There was a playfulness in Alden that Gannon hadn’t seen before, and he realized by not wanting to put a collar on him to show ownership, he’d proven something to Alden. Wordlessly, he’d shown his mate that this wasn’t about possessing him, but about building a life together. Even though their love was new, each day would only bring them closer. This time, they moved with languid ease. Alden took full advantage of his position on top, and Gannon enjoyed being ridden. As his lust increased, his teeth began to extend.

  “I can see your canines.”

  “I don’t have to feed.”

  “I don’t mind.”

  “Your neck doesn’t hurt?” Gannon stroked the scar and let out a groan when Alden tightened around his prick.

  “It’s tender, but not painfully so.” Alden leaned close. “I liked last night.”

  Gannon flashed on the feeling of McBride pulling on him as he pulled his first taste from Alden. The shock of that had been so intense that when he climaxed, it had been the most powerful orgasm he’d ever had. “I liked last night, too, but tonight, I want it to be just us.”

  “You didn’t want to share with our master?”

  “No. I mean yes. I mean I didn’t mind. It was very intense. But I want to know what it’s like when it’s just you and I.”

  “Me, too.” Alden lowered his chest to Gannon’s and then straightened out his legs.

  Carefully, Gannon rolled until he was on top of his mate. They kissed and rocked gently until Gannon felt that same hungry pressure to bite. He held off and teased the scar, wanting to increase Alden’s pleasure along with his own. When Alden was panting and breathlessly begging him to feed, Gannon pushed him just a bit higher before he lowered his head and bit.

  Alden whimpered while Gannon growled and sucked deep. The taste of his mate exploded in his mouth, making him think of fire and lust in dark corners with furtive thrusts. He rammed his hips forward one last time, planting his prick as deep as he could. Right as he climaxed, he pulled another long drink and thought he would die from the intense pleasure. The orgasm he felt last night was nothing compared to this.

  Rocking his hips and pulling with his lips, Gannon was lost in pure sensation. At the back of his mind he worried about his tiny mate, but his whimpers and cries confirmed that he was also experiencing sublime bliss. His eruption between their bellies was hot, slick, and caused Gannon to finally finish his own long release.

  Licking tenderly at the wound, he closed the edges, then kissed along Alden’s face until he turned his head. Their gazes met and held.

  “I’ve never felt anything like that.” Alden looked as amazed as he sounded.

  “That was twice as strong as what I felt last night.” Gannon was still glad that his very generous master had been a part of their first time, but he was doubly glad that things were even better when they were alone. “I’ve never felt so close to someone.”

  “Me, either.”

  “But I worry.”

  “About me?”

  “No.” Gannon shook his head and kissed his mate a dozen times. “I know that we can work out whatever differences come our way. I’m just worried that if McBride can’t find all my brothers mates, they might not stay away from mine.”

  Chapter 12

  Alden hadn’t considered how tense things would be if McBride couldn’t find the other slammers mates or if perhaps he couldn’t afford them. McBride might be what the other thralls called land rich and money poor. He certainly didn’t dress or carry himself like he had loads of funds, but looks could be deceiving. Perhaps McBride didn’t feel a need to live up to anyone’s view of him.

  “I’m an idiot for saying that.” Gannon rolled to his side, taking Alden with him. “He’ll find them mates. And if he doesn’t, he’d never allow them to just take mine.”

  “He wouldn’t.” Alden knew that for a fact. “McBride is very caring.”

  “I think so, too.”

  “He has to be to give each of you a home and then a mate.”

  “The homes were actually a gift from his father.”

  “Oh?”

  “Before we had the houses, we lived in the big house.”

  “You did?” Alden was surprised. “I thought that landed gentry didn’t like having slammers in their home?”

  “Jonas did. Master McBride, our master’s father, didn’t though. So he bought each of us a mechanical house.”

  “And how did Jonas feel about that?”

  “I don’t know for certain, but I don’t think he liked it. He wanted us in the big house, but I wanted to be out here.”

  “Did Jonas ever hurt you?”

  “No. He drank from me occasionally, but I think he didn’t care for my taste as much as some of my brothers’.”

  Alden couldn’t help but feel there was something not quite right about Jonas. Not just that he was performing an unusual sex act in his own parlor, but there was something unwholesome about the way he’d treated his slammers by basically letting them live in his house as if they were some kind of family. The notion of families was one that was long past. No one lived that way anymore. At least that’s what Alden had learned in the thrall house.

  Maybe that was what he’d been after, though. Perhaps Jonas had been a lonely man who tried to soothe his emptiness by filling his home with men. But the curious tableau that Gannon had walked in on puzzled him. Jonas having sex with a mechanical man wasn’t illegal or anything, but why had he been watched by another man?

  Knowing it was none of his business didn’t stop Alden from asking pointed questions. “Was McBride’s father the man Jonas was…performing for?”

  “Oh, no. McBride’s father was very quiet and hardly ever came out of the house.” Gannon frowned as he looked out the window.

  “What?” Alden rose up on his arm and looked out toward the field. There was a light bobbing along the rows they had planted. “Who is that?”

  “McBride, maybe? He could be counting the rows.”

  Together they watched the light but quickly grew bored. They settled into bed and pulled the covers up.

  “Do you want the light on?”

  “No. I’m okay without it, but thank you for asking.”

  Gannon’s fingers rested on the switch.

  “What?”

  “Jonas wasn’t a very good man, but he wasn’t a horrible man, either.”

  “I didn’t say that he was.”

  “I know, but I feel like I have to explain that while what Jonas did was odd, he wasn’t evil.”

  Alden nodded even though he wasn’t sure why Gannon was defending his former master.

  “I think he was very tormented.”

  “By what?”

  Gannon shrugged. “I don’t know, but he seemed happier when he came here and was with McBride’s father.”

  “Maybe they helped one another.”

  Gannon lifted his brows.

  “When mates mesh very well, I think it can help each of them become a better man.” Alden leaned up and kissed his mate’s lips. “You helped me to not be so afraid, and I’ve helped you to have some much-needed structure.”

  A grin transformed Gannon’s features. “I think that’s the way of it.”

  “Turn off the light, my mate, and hold me while we sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a very long day.”

  “Are you still sore?”

  “I’m fine.” After they’d eaten, they’d traded backrubs that turned into more sex. Alden had a feeling that would probably be the norm for them. At least for a while.

  Gannon shut off the light, swept Alden against his powerful chest, and within a dozen breaths they were asleep.

  Alden woke up because there was a light streaming in through the bedroom window. Confused, he rubbed his eyes, wondering why the sun was so small. As he peere
d out toward the field, he blinked rapidly, trying to grasp what he was seeing.

  There was a light bobbing along, but it didn’t follow the same pattern as it had earlier. This time, it was much closer to the semicircle of the brother’s houses. Alden watched as the light came closer to his and Gannon’s home. His brow knitted together as he struggled to see who was holding the light.

  Suddenly, the light flashed in his face, causing him to duck back into bed.

  Holding his breath, he nestled close to his mate and feigned sleep, but he actually had his gaze riveted to the window. After what seemed half the night but was probably only minutes, the light swept over the window then focused on Gannon’s face. The light held there for a long time but then dipped down the length of Gannon’s exposed body.

  Alden looked up at the window while the man with the light was busy looking at Gannon. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but he saw a man with pale hair and worried eyes. Whoever he was, he was so focused on Gannon he didn’t even flick the light toward Alden. As the light moved up to Gannon’s face, Alden worried that Gannon would awake and become angry, but instead, he rolled, putting his entire face into the beam.

  The light disappeared from the window so fast it was disorienting.

  Baffled, Alden stealthily climbed out of bed then peered out the window. The light was now moving toward the next house, which belonged to Gannon’s twin. And then Alden gasped. The light had jumped away when whoever was holding it saw Gannon’s face. The only thing that really showed the difference between Gannon and Ollie was the scar on Gannon’s face. Alden remembered how the light had stroked down Gannon’s body and rested on his abdomen. If not for the blankets, whoever held it would have seen that there was no scar on his body. When Gannon moved, the man with the light had been able to see the scar on his face.

  Alden realized the man with the pale hair and worried eyes was looking for Gannon’s twin, Ollie Morgan.

  THE END

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  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Reading, writing, and white-water rafting are the three things Anitra Lynn McLeod enjoys the most. You can visit her at www.AnitraMcLeod.com.