by J. D. Light
"Her actions and thought process were just so far removed from logical. The Abby I met at the end was nothing like the smart, confident second she'd been when I gave her that position."
"These extreme changes make me wonder." The crease between Kinsey's eyebrows was freaking sexy…and I was entirely too obsessed with him. "Green, would you mind looking up anything you can on Linus Martin? I'd really like to know how old he is and who his parents were."
"What are you thinking?" Flynn asked, his brows lowering over his narrowed eyes as Green dug his phone out of his pocket and got to work.
"They changed their mind right after they talked to him. If he's as old as I think he is, there is a chance he's a chosen child and therefore has some kind of ability to manipulate."
"Pfft." Bennett leaned forward, propping his head on his fist. "Maybe that guy at the baby shop has the same ability. I swear I left that damn place with every item they sell."
"No, you left there with every item they sell because you have a problem. What kid needs three cribs?" Thompsyn's grumbling voice was accompanied by an eye-roll.
Bennett batted his eyelashes at his grumpy, pregnant mate and smiled. "One for our house, one for my mom's house, and a portable one, just in case the grizzard stays with any of its uncles."
Kinsey looked at me before mouthing, "Grizzard?"
Rolling my eyes, I whispered, "Grizzly…leopard. Grizzard."
His mouth said "oh," but his face said, "the fuck?"
"There is no way you're actually gonna let that kid stay with any of us," Burke said, taking a bite of his mashed potatoes. "Maybe Ridley, but only when Thompsyn forces ya."
"That's not true. I need my daily dose of vitamin BD, and I can't get that with a kid in the house."
"Don't ask," I said quietly, looking directly at Kinsey when he turned to me, his mouth already forming the question.
"You're gonna drop the kid off at someone's house every day, so you can fuck your mate." Burke didn't even phrase it like a question.
Bennett started to answer anyway, when Davis shouted, "Bear Dick!" We all turned to look at the man, because that is what you do when someone yells "Bear Dick" at the top of their lungs at the dinner table.
Davis's eyes bulged, and then he shook his head. "Oops! I meant to keep that inside." Pause. "Not inside of my body! Inside my head. Not that I was sitting here thinking about bear dick. Well, I guess I was, but only for a second. And I wasn't thinking about an actual bear's dick. I was thinking about Thompsyn's. NOT LIKE THAT!"
Ward simply sighed and shoved a bite of food in his still-rambling mate's mouth, while Bennett, Burke, and Foster laughed so hard they almost hurt themselves. Thompsyn was blushing a color I'd never seen before, while every other person in the room was trying their hardest not to laugh. When I looked at Kinsey, his pretty amber eyes were huge, and his mouth was hanging open.
Green cleared his throat, grabbing the sides of his face to keep from laughing. "There isn't much on Linus Martin, other than the fact that he's Linus Martin the tenth. It doesn't have anything on his parents, though. Not exactly foolproof evidence, but it is exactly what we would expect to find from Thompsyn's background search."
"Or mine," Kinsey said, nodding his head. "But it could also be Foster's profile, and he isn't a chosen child."
"You're a chosen child?" I looked over at my mate, shocked. "What can you do?"
My mate's eyes bore into mine, and I couldn't help but feel just a bit mesmerized by him. Maybe that was his power. He was quite successful with me. I was so drawn in by him, I nearly missed the spoon floating next to my face.
When I did, I gasped, turning my head to fully take in the floating spoon. Reaching up, I touched it, making the handle swing, like invisible fingers were holding it up by the bowl of the spoon. I giggled slightly when the thing tapped me gently on the nose.
"Telekinesis?" Ronny asked with what sounded like amazement in his voice.
"Mmm. Only metal. Hence why my father found it useless and tried to sell me." Kinsey said, his face passive as he watched me continue to poke the floating spoon.
"That's how all the handcuffs came undone," I whispered, again blown away by my mate.
"What handcuffs?!" Marlow demanded, glaring at Kinsey.
Sighing, because he was ruining our moment, I turned and glared at my brother. "The handcuffs my kidnappers used to keep me and four others locked to the wall of the disgusting room they were keeping us in."
I watched his face clear and then color, and for once in my life, I wanted my brother to feel ashamed of himself. This man was my mate. His main focus in life from here on out would be to make me happy. How was Marlow still struggling with the whole soulmate perfect for the other concept of a mate?
"Sorry, Kinsey," Marlow mumbled, his blush deepening. "I'm used to being the one who takes care of Bentley. I might be having a bit of an issue giving that role up."
And just like that, I wasn't mad at my brother anymore.
Reaching around my shoulder, Kinsey patted Marlow's back. "I understand, Marlow. And I'm actually very grateful to you for taking such good care of him. Bentley is the most precious, most perfect man I've ever met, and I intend to make him as happy as he can possibly be, for the rest of his life."
I couldn't look away from Kinsey. He was staring at me like I was the most amazing thing he'd ever seen. I didn't even hear whatever it was my brother said that made everyone else in the room laugh.
I felt his hand drop away from my brother's shoulder and then slide across the top of my back before he leaned over to whisper in my ear. "You can't look at me like that in front of all these people, precious boy. I know how it goes in a house like this, but when I claim you, it's going to be in a soft bed where I can take all the time in the world to worship your body. Not right here on this table in front of your family."
That erection I was hoping to not get while sitting next to my brother at a table full of shifters about broke through the front of my pants, and I watched Kinsey's nostrils flare as he no doubt took in the aroma of my arousal. His growl did nothing to make it any better, and I whimpered.
I barely caught myself before I leaned in to take his mouth. That wouldn't help either of us. But, fuck, I wanted his mouth on mine so bad.
"See!" Bennett said, pointing at Kinsey. "Leap house equals sex-covered surfaces. Ridley, my niece is going to see too much and be subjected to unclean living conditions."
Sighing, Ridley leaned back in his seat and rubbed his rounded belly. "Benny, you know we are moving into the little cottage out back once the baby is born. And Arry promised he wouldn't fuck Marlow on the porch swing anymore."
"Fuck no," my brother growled next to me. "I can't get that splinter out of my ass."
Laughing, Bennett yelled, "Arry! Are you going to just sit there and let him talk about your dick like that?"
Arlington flipped Bennett off, making the man cackle like a witch.
"Oh no!" Davis turned toward his mate, grabbing his arm. "Dick!"
Ward frowned in confusion at the man, shaking his head and lifting his hands in question.
"I'm probably going to say dick in front of the children! They are going to say dick at school, and the teacher is going to ask where they heard that, and I'm going to get the creepy uncle reputation! I'm going to be a pedophile in prison with that guy who skins people and hates pedophiles. I don't want to be Monty Masochist's new suit!"
"Whoa!" Ward grabbed his mate's arms, laughing. "Calm down, hot stuff. Don't forget that you aren't actually a pedophile."
"I know that. And you know that. But what's-his-dick with the sharp shank doesn't know that!"
Kinsey murmured, "Wow," while some of us giggled and others all-out laughed.
Flynn cleared the laughter out of his throat. "Don't worry, Davis. Ridley's favorite word is 'fuck' these days. You won't be the only one teaching our daughter bad words.
Nodding, Burke shrugged. "We're all gonna screw these kids up together. Like a
real family."
Blinking in shock for a few moments, Kinsey smiled, shaking his head. "I think we may have gotten a bit off topic."
"I don't know how," Foster said dryly, smirking. "That never happens."
"You're him," Ridley said quietly, sounding sad. "The one whose father had a chosen male mate he used for making special children. The one who lost his birth father and ran away with his siblings."
I turned to the cute redhead sitting next to the alpha and watched a tear run down his cheek.
"I am. When my father tried to sell me because he didn't find my power worth the food I continued to eat inside his house, I knew I couldn't leave my brothers and sister there to fend for themselves. And I really didn't want to be some nasty old man's breeder, so I used my power to stab him with his own knife as he skinned a deer one morning and snuck off with my siblings before anyone figured out what happened."
"Where are they now? Your brothers and sisters?" Sutton asked, just as transfixed as everyone else with the story of Kinsey Walt.
Smiling, my mate focused back on me, his eyes seeming to take in and enjoy my bewildered face. "They live on an island in the Caribbean called Terra Mortis, where they train all sorts of immortals in a bunch of different fields. Mostly for entry into the FBI."
"How did I get so lucky?" I whispered, but I was realizing fast that, in a room full of shifters, everyone heard, and those who didn't had it repeated to them by their mates. "I…It doesn't feel real."
"That's the way we all feel, Bentley," my brother said softly at my side. "I think that's how you are supposed to feel about the other half of your soul."
Smiling softly, Kinsey glanced up, looking across the table. "Foster, call the guys, if you don't mind. Try to catch Harley before he heads out and have him question those idiots from the meeting again about Linus. This time, have him focus on what they were feeling while they were on the phone with him. Anything that would suggest they might have been manipulated. I'm going to guess it's vocal tones. Did you hear him speak during that convention you and Ronny went to?"
"Yeah, but where we were hidden, the air from the vent made it hard to hear him. The other speakers were much louder. Their tones strangely clear compared to his." Frowning, Foster glanced at Ronny. "I found it strange at the time because I wondered how anyone could even hear him on the floor, and that kind of seemed like a bid deal for a convention. But I dismissed it because it didn't seem important to the investigation."
Ronny nodded. "They also didn't have a sign language interpreter like they usually do at conventions. I didn't think about it at the time, but I probably wouldn't have worried about it even if I did. They are looking for a supreme race. I'm pretty sure they would see being deaf as a disability.
"No doubt," Kinsey said, nodding slightly. "Okay, I'm stealing my mate away. I'll just be upstairs, but call me if you hear anything. I may not answer, but you can leave a message."
When Kinsey stood, he dragged me out of my chair, giving me a terrifying smirk before throwing me over his shoulder and heading toward the stairs.
I'm never going to stop this damn giggling at this rate.
***
"Dinner was amazing, precious boy. And you look so happy taking care of everyone."
He was doing it again. Looking at me like he was the lucky one. Like he was completely blown away by me.
Taking the hem of my shirt in his hands, he drew it over my head and threw it across the room. I shivered as the action caused the air in the room to move against my oversensitive skin.
Feeling confidence like I haven't felt in years, I used my left hand to pull his shirt free of his pants and slid it up over the planes of his amazing body, following it with my right arm, marveling at how the smoothness of his skin mixed with the grooves of his muscled body felt against my forearm.
Lifting his arms, he watched my eyes with his beautiful, golden-whiskey-colored ones, letting me see the fire of lust banked there.
When the shirt was off and joining mine somewhere, Kinsey grabbed my hips, pulling me forward so I was pressed against him, skin to gloriously tan skin. He was so beautiful as he cradled my head in his hands, eyes focused on my mouth.
"Fuck, precious boy. You have no idea how amazing you look right now." He rubbed his lips against mine, growling. His body vibrated against me, and I couldn't control the whine that escaped any more than I could control the way my entire body melted.
My hand and my arm came to rest on his sides, and I again moved my skin against his, this time sliding my arms around his body and enjoying the texture of his back.
I couldn't resist letting my left hand fall to the rock hard swell of his ass, squeezing him, while pressing my hips forward, needing to get a little friction on my dick.
Growling again, Kinsey ground slowly against me while pressing his thigh between my legs. It was solid and gave my cock the friction I desperately needed.
I whined, pre-cum oozing almost steadily from my body.
When the slow grind of our hips had me on the edge of coming in my pants, I bit down on Kinsey's lip, making his body spasm before he groaned.
Pulling his head back, he dropped his hands from my head, suddenly watching me like a hunter would his prey.
I gasped in surprise when he jerked my pants open. I wasn't completely sure he hadn't just ripped them instead of unzipping them, but we'd grabbed clothes before we left the leap house earlier, so I had other things to worry about just then, rather than whether or not my pants were still usable.
Like the way my throbbing, red dick smacked loudly against my belly when he ripped my jeans down around my ankles and then picked me up and tossed me on the bed when I didn't step out of them fast enough.
I'd taken my shoes and socks off when we walked into the room, and I hadn't put my underwear back on after the bath because they hadn't been washed yet. So when he grabbed the end of each leg and pulled them off, I was completely naked, sprawled on the bed with a leaking dick and the barely contained need to wrap my hand around my cock and stroke.
So I did.
I don’t think I could have been so bold even yesterday, but something about this man made every one of my insecurities about being less than whole disappear completely.
He was perfect. Gorgeous, sweet, smart, and incredibly strong and resilient. And he was watching me stroke my dick like it was the most erotic thing he'd ever seen.
His pants were open around his purple and uncomfortable-looking engorged cock as he stood before me, looking like the epitome of sultry sex, his dick leaking like a dripping faucet.
"Finish taking your pants off, Kinsey. I need you up here." My hand spasmed on my dick, and I arched, moaning. "Please, Kins. I need you now."
His eyes glowed, and he pushed his pants down his legs quickly, stepping out and stalking forward. His body was amazing. His shoulders were wide and his hips narrow. Every ab was carved out and covered in russet-colored skin, barely dusted with black hair and glistening with sweat.
"Roll over, precious boy," he growled, sidestepping the bed and going to his bag on the floor in the corner.
I obeyed, pulling my knees under me as he dug around and pulled something out. He came back with a bottle of lube, but it hit the bed, forgotten, when he glanced up at my body.
"Fuck!"
I watched his dick jerk, pushing out another drop of translucent fluid as he groaned, reaching forward to run his hand over my ass.
"Kins," I whined, needing his hand a little closer to my center.
Leaning forward, he rubbed the soft whiskers of his short beard against my left cheek, making me keen. Then he switched cheeks, reaching up to cup the one he'd just left, letting his thumb graze inside my crack.
I felt both his hands settle on my cheeks, his thumbs pulling outward, revealing my opening completely. "You have such a beautiful hole, Bentley. I can't wait to be in here."
I opened my mouth to agree, to beg for just that. For something. But then he buried his face in my ass
and licked a long stripe along my crack, making the breath whoosh out of me completely and my hips stutter forward.
"Fuuuuck! Kinsey! Oh shit…I don't…fuck…I can't."
Chapter Five
Hearing my mate keen in ecstasy was making the situation, involving me almost getting off just by looking at his gorgeous body getting prepared for me, far worse.
I licked up and down his trench again and again, stopping to flick my tongue against his hole. I pressed the tip against his opening and marveled as he opened for me, letting me slide in.
His taste was addictive, and as I wiggled and pumped my tongue, I had to keep my hips pulled back away from the bed so I didn't get even the slightest friction on my overly engorged dick.
Needing to gain some control, I pulled my mouth away, sliding a finger into his warm canal, hooking it down toward the bed, pegging his prostate, and groaning when his ass spasmed and his body bowed.
Trying to be gentle, but desperately needing to be inside him, I continued to stretch him, using first one and then two and then three fingers.
Pulling my fingers out when I thought he might be ready for me, I tapped his hip, motioning for him to roll onto his back as I snatched the lube from where I’d dropped it earlier.
He sprawled onto his back, his beautiful cock so hard it looked ready to pop, and coated in pre-cum. He spread his legs, letting me see that his balls were already pulled tight and his hole was slick from my spit and ready for me to slide inside.
Popping the cap on the lube, I rubbed a generous amount down my shaft, careful not to squeeze tight enough to send myself over the edge, and climbed up onto the bed.
I hadn't removed my prosthetic, so I could feel the liner bunch slightly at the back of my knee, but I couldn't care less, as I was suddenly seconds away from claiming my mate.