Stealing His Heart Away [Heart Stealers 1] (Siren Publishing Classic ManLove)

by Jane Perky

  “More,” he uttered after Axel released him. He was hungry for more of Axel’s kisses and touches, for Axel to peel away every piece of their clothing so skin could touch.

  “Soon,” Axel promised, placing a gentle kiss on his forehead.

  “You’ll really be here?” he asked in a small voice, not wanting to wake from this amazing fantasy.

  “Go to sleep, little human.”

  “I always have nightmares of that night,” he said. Ryan never said that to anyone, even Dr. Matthews, the therapist he called once a month since the accident. “I prefer this dream better.”

  “This is real, little human,” Axel said, leaning close to nip at his lip, hard enough to draw blood. He moaned, unsure why that turned him on. Axel rubbed at his chest, hand going lower to give his dick a squeeze through his jeans. Axel continued, “And I’ll stand guard over you, so you won’t have nightmares.”

  “Okay.” It sounded too good to be true, but exhaustion began to sink in, and Axel wasn’t going anywhere. He closed his eyes, and like Axel promised, he had a long and dreamless sleep.

  * * * *

  Axel didn’t leave, even after Ryan’s snores filled the living room. He came over, dressed in his best, and holding a dozen roses. He even stood right in front of Ryan’s front door as Ryan requested and rang the bell thrice.

  When there had been no answer, he made his way around back only to find Ryan had fallen asleep on the couch. After letting his human sleep for a few hours, he checked Ryan’s temperature again and was relieved that all signs of a fever were gone. The human had overworked himself, and it wasn’t the first time. That made him angry. Ryan worked too much. It was time he gave his human a little taste of life outside these walls. Ryan needed to unwind and relax, a push in the right direction.

  Axel planned on being there on every step of the way.

  It wouldn’t be easy though, he knew that, so they’d take small steps. It broke his heart, hearing Ryan pleading with him not to go. His phone vibrated in his pocket and he gently pried his hand from Ryan’s to stand up. Ryan mumbled in his sleep, but he stooped down and gave his mate a reassuring quick kiss on the lips.

  Ryan hugged one of the couch pillows and went back to snoring. Keeping an eye on his mate, he looked at the text message from Zane, telling him about another job from a new client. He typed back a quick message, telling Zane he’d come in tomorrow. Zane’s reply was instant.

  Zane: With your little new human?

  Axel: Mind your own business.

  Zane sent him an emoticon of a middle finger, making him chuckle. Tucking away his phone, he decided to clean up a little. He set Ryan’s laptop and papers on the coffee table, and with some space now cleared, he decided to settle in for the night, as well.

  Axel eyed the arm chair next to the couch and decided the best way he could be comfortable was being in his own fur. He stripped out of the clothes he spent over an hour picking. That never happened to him before Ryan either, because he usually picked whatever was clean off his floor.

  Shifting to wolf form, he padded to Ryan’s side and curled on the floor. The first thing Ryan would see when he woke up was Axel.

  Chapter Six

  Ryan woke up, groggy as hell. He flung the blanket aside. Wait. Blanket? He sat up, alarmed. He didn’t remember getting a blanket, although he did have an amazingly sweet dream of Axel and—his foot brushed on something soft. A snarl made him yelp as a monster-sized wolf rose from his position on the ground to plant huge paws on his thighs.

  Ryan swallowed, then recognition hit him, chasing his initial fear away. Axel was careful, he realized, keeping his claws sheathed.

  “Hello,” he whispered, nerves disappearing when Axel licked at his cheek. Then it dawned on him. Last night hadn’t been a dream. Axel had come over, was the one who took care of him and kissed him. The last thought made him blush. “You’re really here.”

  Axel chose that moment to shift. Startled, he sat a little straighter. Bones popped, fur receded, and Axel, muscled, hard, and gorgeous, stood in front of him. Axel leaned close, placing both muscled arms on either side of him, trapping him in place, not that he didn’t like that.

  “Like I promised,” Axel said.

  Ryan’s mouth went dry as he became aware of Axel’s hard muscles rubbing against his body. Then Axel pressed his face into the side of his neck, grazing teeth across his skin. The werewolf seemed particularly fixated on the spot between shoulder and neck. Axel licked and nipped at him, and God, even the simple action turned him on. He shifted, aware of his rising cock.

  “W-what are you doing?” he finally asked.

  “Memorizing the scent of my mate.” Axel threw out the words with such confidence it floored him.

  “Mate? What?” Ryan was stunned.

  Axel got off him, and while part of him wished Axel didn’t, the other half was glad, because he could think a little better again. Ryan began to lean in closer, then stopped himself. What was he doing? All he wanted was to take off his clothes and continue where they left off from last night. Ryan was horny as hell, but his insane attraction to Axel confused and scared him a little.

  “The moment I saw you, I knew,” Axel replied. The werewolf picked up his clothes from the floor and began dressing up—a pity, because he caught plenty of wonderful glimpses of Axel’s hard physique, even the generously-proportioned erection Axel sported. Axel went on, “You were made for me, little human.”

  “Uh.” What could Ryan say to that? This man rendered him speechless. He tried to remember what he knew about shifters. They choose one mate for life, he remembered reading that from the net, and Axel was telling him he was the one?

  “That’s too good to be true,” he found himself saying. “Is this some kind of joke? Because if it is, it’s a pretty cruel one.”

  Axel growled as if the notion offended him. “I’d never do that to you.”

  The fury in Axel’s blazing yellow eyes made him nod. “I believe you.” Ryan bit his lip. “I thought you left when you took the painting.”

  “Last night, I arrived on your front door like you requested, brought roses, too.” Axel ran a hand through his short black hair and jerked his head to the living room, where Ryan was surprised to see a vase of roses. “This is all kind of new to me. I usually don’t date.”

  “You don’t?” he asked with some surprise.

  “Well, I’m more used to temporary hook-ups,” Axel admitted.

  “Of course.” The more time he spent with Axel, the more Ryan felt way out of his league. Of course a guy like Axel wouldn’t have trouble attracting lovers, and yet Axel seemed to make an exception for him. Hope blossomed inside him again, but it was so fragile, so new.

  “Well,” Axel ventured, “I served in the army’s paranormal unit for five years. I never had the time to date, and I avoided relationships knowing I could get killed any other day.”

  That new information jolted him awake. It certainly explained some of the scars he spotted on Axel, and he remembered seeing some kind of military affiliated tattoo on Axel’s left shoulder.

  “What made you get into this, um, new lifestyle?” he had to ask.

  Axel laughed. “That’s the most polite thing anyone said to me. The army decided we needed to be silenced permanently. We knew too much, killed plenty of important figures. We faked our deaths instead, and as for stealing? It’s a lot better than murder.”

  A chill ran down his spine at those words. He knew Axel was far from ordinary, even for a shifter, and yet he felt completely safe with Axel. He decided to change the topic.

  “You dressed up and got me flowers. Does this mean you planned on taking me out? You watched me, so you should know that I’m a shut-in,” he explained. It was hard, confessing the truth to Axel.

  “I know.” Axel blew out a breath. “I did my research.”

  That froze him up. “On me?”

  Ryan didn’t know how he felt about that, equal parts angry and pleased Axel made the effort
to dig up some dirt on him. What was wrong with him? Then again, he lived the past few years like a ghost. If he died in his own home due to some kind of accident, it would take weeks, months maybe for cops to discover his body.

  He shook his head. Enough with morbid thoughts and pessimistic thinking, because Ryan wanted to change things up, to dig himself out of the hole he voluntarily placed himself in. Except was it too late? What if Axel thought he came with too much baggage? Would the werewolf walk away just when Ryan found a reason to change, to try to salvage the life he’d foolishly thrown away by choosing to exist as opposed to really living?

  “Yeah, I know you haven’t stepped out of your house for a long time, so I planned on bringing the date to you, maybe do some cooking, or we can make dinner together.”

  Warmth filled his chest. “Really?”

  Ryan couldn’t believe Axel showed no signs of running away.

  “Is that so hard to believe?” Axel asked. The werewolf gave him a considering look, staring intently at his neck.

  Ryan’s hand came up to the spot and he realized he felt a small ache. It struck him that Axel had left a tiny bite there. Rubbing his fingers over the skin, he could trace a slight imprint of Axel’s teeth.

  “You bit me,” Ryan accused.

  Axel flashed him an aw, shucks look. “I’m a wolf. We do that and you seemed to like it.”

  Ryan did. He blushed. Yes, he wanted Axel to mark him, possess him. Where these wild thoughts came from, he didn’t know, but it made his heart thump. The temperature in the room seemed to change, burn hotter.

  He cleared his throat. Time to take some initiative. “Um. We can still make breakfast together.”

  “Sounds great. What do you have?” Even as the werewolf asked, Axel led the way to his own kitchen and began looking through his fridge.

  “Last I remembered, this is my house,” he grumbled as Axel began taking out eggs and a packet of bacon. “Plus, you’re a guest in my home. I should be doing the cooking.”

  “No. Sit your cute, tight little ass over there. I’ll have breakfast ready in less than thirty minutes,” the gorgeous bastard had the gall to say, motioning to the counter stool.

  “Are all werewolves this demanding?” he had to ask, sitting down nonetheless.

  Ryan took that opportunity to admire the strong lines of Axel’s back muscles as the werewolf cracked eggs and began fishing out cooking utensils.

  “Hold on a second, you know where everything is,” he said.

  “Does that scare you? I’ve been watching you for days.”

  “I’m not scared,” he blurted. That was a lie, but Ryan wasn’t afraid of Axel. He knew now that the big werewolf wouldn’t let any harm come to him, but he didn’t know what to do about the strange fluttering in his insides, or why he had the sudden urge to walk up to Axel and ask for another kiss.

  Unthinkingly, he touched his lips only to find Axel turned to flash him a knowing grin.

  “I dreamt of taking those lips again, crushing that sweet body of yours under mine,” Axel said.

  He blushed, aware he probably looked like a human tomato by now. “Are you always this blunt?”

  “Don’t like upfront and personal?”

  He shook his head. “I do, it’s just strange, having a werewolf in my kitchen, cooking me breakfast. I won’t ever forget today.”

  Axel laughed, the sound deep and pure, able to melt his insides. He shifted on his seat, wishing this moment could last forget. Axels’ next words completely caught him off-guard and managed to eliminate the last of his defenses.

  “Then you better get used to me being around, little human.”

  * * * *

  “What do you mean by that?” Ryan asked.

  Axel placed their eggs and bacon on two plates, then slotted bread into the toaster, before looking at his mate. “Why? Wanna get rid of me that quickly?” he teased.

  Ryan fidgeted in his chair. “No, but anything that’s too good to be true can’t last forever.”

  Axel regarded his little human carefully. “Is that what you think?”

  Ryan clasped his hands on the counter, taking a moment to answer. The toaster pinged. Setting the toasts on each plate, he placed them on the counter. Axel grabbed a bottle of maple syrup from the fridge and joined Ryan. Once he sat down, Ryan began to open his mouth but Axel silenced him first.

  “Eat first. You hardly took any food yesterday,” Axel warned.

  Ryan cutely glared at him, a werewolf who could easily overpower him in seconds. “Fine, Mr. Werewolf Bossy Pants.”

  He laughed, unable to help it. “You have a nickname for me, already?”

  “What are you going to do with that maple syrup?” Ryan asked, ignoring his question.

  Axel drizzled it over his bacon in answer.

  “Ew. It’s mixing with the eggs,” Ryan told him.

  “You should try it, it’s amazing.” Silence set in as they gobbled down their breakfast for a couple of minutes. It seemed Ryan was hungrier than he thought.

  “You did your research on me, so you know about the car accident?” Ryan finally asked, plate clean.

  He nodded and waited for Ryan to speak. Axel had a feeling his little human needed to let everything out.

  “I just got a letter from a university I thought I’d never get into, and my then boyfriend just told me he got accepted, too.” Ryan looked distracted as he spoke. Not liking that, he reached out across the counter and gave Ryan’s hand a reassuring squeeze. Axel wanted to remind his mate he was there and could be relied on.

  “I remember being disappointed no one was home,” Ryan continued. “I took a nap, and when I woke a police officer shook me awake, telling me the horrible news. I kept texting my family to hurry back from grocery shopping because I had good news. If I didn’t push them, Jeremy Raines wouldn’t have tried to catch that yellow light and run them over.”

  “Hey,” Axel said. Ryan still blamed himself, he realized. “That’s not true. No one could have predicted what happened. None of what happened is your fault.”

  Axel began to have an inkling of why Ryan didn’t want to leave his house.

  “My therapist told me the same thing, but it still feels partly my fault. After the accident, I began viewing the outside world as dangerous, a death trap,” Ryan said. “I didn’t go to that university. I stayed here, completed my online degree, and figured out a way to make sure I didn’t need to go out. I thought I’d be safe here, until you changed everything.”

  “I did?” he asked with some surprise. He felt like an ass for shocking Ryan that night. Hell, he finally understood why Ryan nearly went into a panic attack after seeing him. Ryan should be pissed at him, and yet it seemed like the exact opposite.

  “I want to thank you,” Ryan began. “For waking me up from what feels like a deep sleep.”

  “You really mean that,” he said, shocked.

  Ryan nodded. “The encounter really shook me up, but I finally understood that part of me always wanted to move away from the past. I’m ready, but I’m not sure how.”

  He got off his seat and stood behind Ryan. Axel wrapped his arms around Ryan, pleased his little human leaned in close and relaxed against him.

  “I’ll help you. Step-by-step, we’ll navigate the world you left behind together.”

  It took him a second to realize Ryan began to shake and tears rolled down Ryan’s cheek. Axel grew alarmed at first but realized Ryan wasn’t going into a fit.

  “Why would you go all the way to help me?” Ryan whispered.

  “Because you’re mine,” Axel simply said, tilting Ryan’s face.

  He slammed his lips over Ryan’s. The human responded with equal passion. Teeth clashed and tongues tangled. Need built inside of him like a furious storm. Axel shoved the plates and cutleries aside, making space.

  When he pulled his mouth away, both of them were breathing hard. Ryan got off the stool and he placed his hands around Ryan’s waist. Without warning, he easily lifted R
yan on the counter, so Ryan’s ass rested on the edge. His little human let out an adorable yelp but relaxed as Axel placed his arms on either side of Ryan’s body, trapping him.

  “Thank you,” Ryan said simply, leaning into his chest and resting his head on his shoulder. “For taking a chance on me.”

  Chapter Seven

  Ryan’s entire body tensed. He wondered what Axel would say to that. Would the werewolf think him too needy?

  “You’re welcome,” Axel replied, the words filling him with relief.

  Feeling bolder, he slipped his hand underneath the werewolf’s shirt, touching Axel’s six-pack abs. Axel growled softly, but it felt like Axel didn’t mind that at all, because Axel took a fistful of his top. One jerk and the thin material ripped.

  “Holy shit,” he murmured as the fabric fluttered to the ground. “That was so hot, but please, warn me if you do that again. Otherwise, I won’t have any shirts left.”

  Axel grinned. “Duly noted, little human.”

  “I like that nickname a lot.”

  “I can tell.” Axel ran his hands down his chest, his slender body that Ryan never saw as attractive. No matter what he did or ate, he never seemed to bulk up. In the end, he decided it didn’t matter because it wasn’t like he’d go dating any time soon. Boy, he turned out to be wrong on so many accounts.

  This was really happening, he realized, heart hammering as Axel flicked the button of his pants open and leaned in close, taking his mouth again. The kiss was slower, but still had a kick to it. When Axel prodded his tongue between his lips, he opened up, letting Axel deepen the kiss.

  Ryan couldn’t believe they were doing this, about to have sex in his dining room in the middle of the day. He’d never done anything this wild. Then again, he hadn’t done a lot of things. Usually, the thought made him feel down, but that wasn’t the case now.