by Lynn Hagen
“They do.”
Casey shrugged. “Then maybe he is otherwise preoccupied.” “How?” Panahasi blurted out.
Casey chuckled. “I sure hope I don’t have to spell it out for you. But I can show you.”
Panahasi’s eyes began to blaze. Casey was learning very quickly that fire-filled eyes meant good things for him. He slid into Panahasi’s lap, shoving his nose into the crook of his mate’s neck, inhaling deeply.
“I’m starting to think you like sniffing me.” Panahasi’s voice was low, gruff, and filled with sexual tension. Casey grinned as he leaned his head back.
“I like how you smell.” And he did. His mate smelled so damn good that Casey could lie in his lap all day and inhale the leather and spice scent. Not only was it a turn-on, but it made him feel safe.
Panahasi rose from the couch, turned, and laid Casey down on his back. Casey lay still as Panahasi started at his navel and began to sniff his way up to Casey’s neck. “You smell just as good, mate.” He kissed the side of Casey’s neck and then leaned back. “And look just as edible.”
Casey laughed. “No one has ever said I look edible.” His eyes hooded, a teasing smile playing at his lips. “Are you going to eat me, big, bad warrior?”
Gods, Casey loved when Panahasi’s nostrils flared. The desire swimming in the man’s eyes always made Casey’s heart pound in his chest. The man honestly looked like he was going to really eat Casey.
“With pleasure.” Panahasi unsnapped Casey’s pants, pulling them down and off in one fell swoop. Well damn. Casey spread his legs, palmed his cock, and licked his lips. It was a look he used with Drake so many times that Casey lost count, but it had always worked. Drake couldn’t resist when Casey presented himself in such a naughty manner.
Panahasi ran his fingers over Casey’s thighs, up one and down the other. The look in his eyes promised hours of wicked fun. Casey couldn’t wait. “Are you going to make me just lie here?”
Casey gasped when Panahasi wrapped his fingers around the base of Casey’s cock, squeezing it lightly. “You always get your way, don’t you?”
He did. But Casey wasn’t sure if telling Panahasi that was a good thing. “Maybe.”
“When I first met you two, I thought Drake was the one I would have to keep an eye on. I see I was wrong.” Panahasi dipped his head, licking a long path from root to tip, eliciting a groan from Casey. “You are the clever one of the two. You pretend to be meek and naïve. I know better now.”
“It takes most people a while to figure me out, if at all. You called my number pretty damn fast,” Casey said and then spread his legs wider, tossing one over the back of the couch, dangling the other one over the side of the couch.
“I just know how to read people,” Panahasi said right before he took Casey’s cock to the back of his throat. Casey slammed his hands down on Panahasi’s head, curling his fingers in the man’s hair as his head rolled back, his eyes fluttering closed.
Fuck if the man didn’t have a very talented mouth. Casey was beginning to wonder if there was anything the man couldn’t do. Panahasi was a mystery to Casey. One moment the man was quiet, reserved, and had a fuck you expression etched into his hard face. The next, he was goofing around with them, dancing like a disco expert, and kicking back like a regular guy on the street.
Casey pulled Panahasi from his cock and then pulled him until his mate was lying over him, kissing him so passionately that he felt like his heart would burst. He wrapped his arms around the man’s neck, grabbing tufts of hair, the emotions coursing through him too much.
“I love you,” Casey said against Panahasi’s lips. “Gods, I love you.”
He stilled when Panahasi’s expression veiled. Casey wasn’t sure what was wrong. All he had done was tell the man how he felt. He lay there afraid to move, afraid to make a sound. Was he about to be rejected?
Casey yelped when Panahasi pulled him from the couch, tossed him over the back of it, and then plunged deep inside of him. Casey shouted this time, spreading his legs and telling himself he was going to kick his mate’s ass afterward for not lubing him.
Panahasi attacked him like a crazy man. He thrust hard, shoving Casey’s chest into the back of the couch, his cock going so deep that Casey swore he was going to feel it in the back of his throat any moment.
When Panahasi bit into Casey’s shoulder, it shocked the shit out of him. Since when did Panahasi have fangs? Casey’s thoughts soon scattered to the four corners as his cock exploded. His mate was taking him with such force that all Casey could do was hold on for the ride. He didn’t understand where the aggression was coming from, but he liked it. He could feel that part of Panahasi that lived inside of him moving around in his chest.
It was a glorious and welcomed feeling.
“Oh, gods,” Casey cried out as Panahasi moved impossibly faster inside of him. He was like a beast unleashed, growling and slamming his cock deep inside Casey’s ass. A lightning storm burned inside of him as Panahasi took him in the most primal way. His blood began to pump with heat that burned. Casey was being consumed, eaten alive by Panahasi’s thirst.
A thousand fires sparked to life as Casey came so hard his vision blurred.
“I just had a talk with Dillon. He said—” Drake stopped in the doorway, his eyes wide. He quickly slammed the door closed, his eyes locked on Casey and Panahasi. “Is he biting you?”
“God, yes!” Casey shouted, the second orgasm ripping through him. “And I love it!”
A growly grunt vibrated from Panahasi’s chest, as if staking his claim. The wild hunger was making Casey gasp for breath. Panahasi gripped Casey’s hips harder, moving so fast that Casey feared he would fall over the back of the couch.
“Holy shit,” Drake said as he locked the door and began to undress. “I have got to try that.”
Casey would have laughed if Panahasi wasn’t making his brain cells melt in his skull.
“What did you do to get him like this?” Drake asked.
“I—” Casey hissed when Panahasi slipped his fangs from Casey’s shoulder. “I told him—” Casey shouted when Panahasi rammed his cock deep, howling out his release. Fuck, the man was going wild. Casey’s claws emerged, digging into the couch as he held on for dear life. The man was nuts.
“I told him l loved him,” he quickly said to Drake.
“My turn,” Drake said as he jumped over the couch, pulling Panahasi from Casey. Casey was relieved. If Panahasi spent any more time behind him, Casey was going to be on the floor behind the couch. He was lying half over it already.
Casey scooted back, trying to catch his breath as he watched Panahasi take Drake in the same way. The man had lost control. His eyes were blazing so brightly that Casey feared the man’s face was going to catch fire.
“Ride this ass!” Drake shouted, seeming to enjoy every second with Panahasi. Casey had, too, but he wasn’t sure he would be walking right for the next couple of days. His cock was sore as hell, too.
Drake shouted and Panahasi roared, both going at it like Tasmanian devils. Drake always liked to have fun with sex, and boy was he having fun. The man was acting as if Panahasi was a damn bull and Drake was holding on for dear life.
Casey chuckled.
“Holy hell,” Drake panted as he dropped onto the floor, his chest expanding and contracting quickly. “Tell him that you love him more often.”
Panahasi turned his head, his eyes locking onto Casey. Oh hell. If the man thought they were about to go at it again, Casey was running.
“Come here.”
“Hell no,” Casey said as he jumped up and ran down the hallway. He could hear Drake laughing as Casey ran for the guest bedroom. It was the closest room. He hollered when Panahasi grabbed him around the waist and pulled him from his feet. “I give!”
A wet tongue licked a long path up his neck before Panahasi nuzzled him. “I love you, too, Casey.”
Casey was spun in Panahasi’s arms, but thought the very air was going to be squeezed fro
m him as Panahasi hugged him. “You’ll never know how much.”
“I think I’m getting the point,” Casey said, trying his best to gulp down some air. “But you are going to crush my lungs if you don’t ease up.”
The tight grip immediately eased, Panahasi grinning. “Sorry.”
Casey cupped Panahasi’s face, giving his mate a warm smile. “Hug me anytime.”
Chapter Eleven
Drake walked into the kitchen, yawning. He couldn ’t understand why he was up at four in the morning, but for some odd reason, he was not only up, but thirsty. He was not a morning person. Never had been.
His wolf scratched at the walls of his mind, but Drake ignored it as he grabbed a glass from the cupboard. It was probably wondering why in the hell they were awake at this god-awful hour.
Opening the refrigerator, Drake spotted a container of juice. As he poured a glass, he remembered a time when he had to ask permission for even the smallest of things. The foster homes he had been in weren’t what he would consider homes. None of them treated him like he belonged. The rules had been stringent and the people distant.
The simple act of walking into the kitchen and getting what he wanted was pure heaven to him. He didn’t have to go find an adult so he could ask permission. Panahasi gave Drake and Casey free rein over his home.
Their home now.
The man had no idea how precious that was to Drake. He felt like he belonged here. Drake felt like he had a future here. He was falling hard for the demon leader, too. Drake wasn’t usually one to trust so easily, but Panahasi was winning him over. The man showed Drake and Casey a side of himself that Drake was sure no one else had seen.
That was another precious thing Drake was beginning to love about the man. Panahasi let down his guard around them. He knew this. He also knew it couldn’t be easy. The guy screamed fuck off in so many ways that most would do just that, but not around those two. No, around Casey and Drake, Panahasi let that gruff shield down and laughed, had fun with them, and damn if the sex wasn’t off the charts.
The way Panahasi had taken them in the living room last night was nothing but primal and possessive. The man had staked his claim in the most erotic way possible. Drake was still sore from what his mate had done to him. And he loved how Panahasi never held back with him. It was exactly what Drake had been looking for.
Casey was rooted in Drake’s very soul. The man was excitable, fun, sexy, and put Drake in his place when he’d gone too far. But when it came to sex, Casey let Drake lead. Drake loved that about his mate, but wanted more.
Panahasi provided the more part of what Drake needed.
It was a perfect mating in his opinion. It was as if all three balanced each other out.
Drake set the glass down and realized too late that someone was in the kitchen with him. Before he could turn around, a hand was on his neck, stilling him. The hold was tight, but not enough to crush his throat. Drake could feel raw supremacy in the hand at his neck. Whoever was standing behind him was someone powerful.
It was a darkness that was neither friendly nor forgiving.
“You intrigue me.”
Drake knew that voice. It was the same voice Casey had used when he was possessed. It was the same voice that had angered Drake because he had felt so helpless when Casey was being taken over by this man.
He didn’t respond. Drake was too busy trying to figure out how he was going to get out of this situation. If he yelled for Panahasi, the man could snap his neck before his mate even got out of bed.
“I can’t figure out how you kept me out of you. No one has ever done that before.” There was a twisted pleasure in the man’s voice, as if Drake keeping him out had turned the man on. The thought made Drake shudder in revulsion.
A wet blanket of hatred and destruction enveloped Drake. He began to claw at the man’s hand, but it held as firm as steel around his throat. There was an ugliness surrounding him that was so visceral that Drake whimpered.
“Do you know who I am, Drake?”
“An asshole who is going to die.”
The man’s body pressed into Drake’s back, his hot breath on Drake’s ear. “Hardly.”
Drake watched as a hand reached past his vision, giving a small wave. He watched in horror as a man began to walk out of the shadow in the corner of the kitchen, his features stoic as he glanced around.
“This is Constantine. He is going to take very good care of you. If you survive, I’ll be back.”
Drake snarled when the hand eased from his neck and then was gone. He could sense that whoever it was that had been behind him was no longer in the apartment. Now he had this shithead in front of him to deal with.
“So, the leader has mated,” the man said as he stepped forward. Drake took a step back. It wasn’t that he was afraid to fight the man— even though the guy was huge. He was trying to give himself a little more room.
Constantine stared at Drake like he was a wild animal and Drake was his prey.
Drake was no one’s prey. He was the hunter. He was the one who took down whatever threatened him or Casey. The man who had been behind him moments ago rattled Drake to his core, but this man in front of him was in for a surprise if he thought Drake was going down easy.
But Drake hadn’t expected the man to move so lightning fast that he hadn’t even had time to blink. A hand was around his throat again, this time squeezing hard. Drake grabbed the guy’s hand, pulling at it as he let his leg swing, hitting the man in a spot no guy could recover so quickly from.
Drake was released. He dropped to the floor and then rolled away.
“I sold my soul for a chance at Panahasi. Do you think I’ll give up that easily?”
Drake was shocked that anyone would hate his mate so deeply that they would give up their soul for a chance at him. “What did he do to you?” Drake sprang to his feet, moving away.
“He was created,” Constantinespat. “That’s good enough for me.”
Drake wasn’t sure how to defeat this man. He was good. Real good. But he didn’t want Panahasi to come out of the bedroom. Unlike the guy who had been behind Drake, this one wasn’t holding back. Drake feared his mate would be harmed, or worse.
Picking the glass up from the counter, Drake spun around and threw it at the guy. Constantine must not have anticipated the move because he didn’t get out of the way in time. The glass shattered against his face, blood immediately appearing, running down his temple.
“You little fucking prick.”
“No,” Drake corrected him. “I’m a bigfucking prick.”
Once again, the man used such speed, that Drake was boxed against the wall before he even saw the man move. He was a shifter, able to move pretty damn fast, but this guy was lightning quick.
“You’ll pay for that.”
“And my little dog, too?” Drake asked as he shoved at the guy’s jaw, pushing the man’s head back. His claws extended, digging deep into Constantine’s face, but the man didn’t budge.
Drake snarled when he was pulled by an unseen force from where Constantine had him pinned. He flew across the room, hitting the wall and landing on his side. He wasn’t sure what just happened until he felt a presence so powerful that Drake feared the other man was back.
Until he saw Panahasi walk into the kitchen in his demon form. His musculature was well-defined, and his skin shimmered with a red glow. Man was no longer present. Only beast was here now. The shift of lean muscles and male strength riveted Drake to his spot. If he hadn’t been mated to Panahasi, he would be terrified right now.
The raw power emanating from his mate was overwhelming.
“You dare come into my home?”
The words were sharp, lethal, and echoed through the room, the deep tone menacing. Drake watched in utter fascination. He had never seen Panahasi in his demon form. The man was taller, thicker, more muscled. There were some strange markings on his arms, like a band around his biceps. Drake didn’t understand what the markings were, but damn i
f they didn’t look sexy on the man.
His mate’s eyes were what drew Drake’s attention. They were inflamed, the fire burning so hot that Drake feared being burned, even from across the room. They no longer looked as though the fire was a reflection. The flames were very real in his mate’s eyes. He didn’t understand how that could be, but damn if it wasn’t true.
And then Drake felt the new demon inside of him stir, as if it recognized Panahasi’s form. It stretched, and the movement could be felt all through Drake’s body. He was really going to have to find out exactly what his mate had done to him. This was some weird-ass shit to feel.
“Since I was denied Takeo, you’ll do,” Constantine said, pulling Drake out of his own thoughts.
Drake didn’t understand what the Japanese warrior had to do with this. He’d met Takeo. Although the guy didn’t say much, he didn’t seem like a bad man. The way Takeo had looked at Kamiko spoke volumes, though. Drake could tell Takeo would kill anyone that even thought about harming the small man.
Pushing to one arm, Drake watched as Constantine moved closer.
Drake yelped when he slid across the floor, stopping behind Panahasi. Thank fuck the floor was highly polished or that would have hurt. He was going to have a talk with his mate about tossing Drake around with only his thoughts. It was emasculating.
He knew how to fight and didn’t appreciate being shielded. Constantine may be quick, but Drake wasn’t giving up. He pushed to his feet, ready to attack when Casey came into view, stilling when he spotted the intruder. And then his eyes went wide when he glanced at Panahasi.
Drake gave his mate a subtle nod. Casey knew exactly what to do. They had been together for ages, and could read each other perfectly. Drake shifted into his wolf form at the same time as Casey, both leaping at Constantine.
No one invaded their happiness.
No one.
A loud roar echoed in the room, and Drake knew Panahasi was protesting.
“Stand down!” The words were commanding, making Drake want to obey. But he had to prove to Panahasi that he didn’t need coddled. He didn’t need protection. Drake was a wolf shifter, able to care for himself. He was tired of living inside these four walls. He wanted out. He wanted to roam the streets.