Sauri grinned. “Wait here. Stay close to this.” He gestured to the skate park’s sign.
“Where are you going?” Ryan slinked to the sign’s nearest post and sat with his back to it.
“Not far.”
Ryan watched Sauri as he became a blurry, out of focus shape which darted around the grassy hillock. He would bend double now and then. When he returned, his arms were laden with the remains of Ryan’s clothing, as well as his glasses and keys. He laughed in relief.
“I’m glad one of us is thinking straight.”
“That is my task,” Sauri answered. He placed the pile of things on the grass by Ryan’s side, and then put Ryan’s tattered t-shirt in his lap so that he could take his own back.
Ryan picked up his glasses. Thankfully they had landed on soft grass, so nothing was broken. He slid them on and looked to Sauri.
The Alpha was turning the material one way and then the other in his hands. Once he found the seams he brought them to his teeth and used a combination of biting and tugging to tear the threads apart. He had to fight with the collar somewhat, but soon he had two halves of a t-shirt; he discarded the loop of collar onto the pile of Ryan’s things.
“Dare I ask what you’re doing to my favorite shirt?”
Sauri tilted his head. “I am making. Stand up.”
Ryan stole a quick peek around them before he did as commanded, clutching the fragments of cotton to his groin.
Sauri tied a knot in two flaps which had moments ago been a single sleeve, and he wrapped the shirt like a loincloth around Ryan’s waist. He tied off the other sleeve until the shirt hung down to cover Ryan like a knee-length skirt.
“Oh!” Ryan pulled his hand out of the way, and Sauri rolled the makeshift hem up, tying it off around Ryan’s thighs.
It made him look like he was wearing a diaper. Thank god his erection was starting to flag.
He tried not to laugh. He failed.
Sauri snorted. “You think that this is funny?”
“Yeah. Because it is.” Ryan crouched carefully to gather up the rest of their mess. “We should get home in case someone’s called the cops.”
“What is cops?”
Ryan stood and bumped his shoulder to Sauri’s. “I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you everything you need to know to live among humans, I promise.”
Sauri grinned. “And I will show you what it is to be a shifter.”
“You’re on!”
They sprinted across the street and down the block to the entrance of Ryan’s apartment building. He let them in, and they hid in the elevator until it reached his floor.
Sauri checked the short corridor, and they fled along it as quietly as they could. Ryan picked out his door key long before they arrived, and he slid it into the lock with a wobble of his fingers.
One twist and push and they were inside. Ryan locked the door after them, then tossed his keys into the bowl.
“I think we made it,” he laughed.
Sauri’s chin rose. “Did you doubt me?”
“No. No way. Maybe just a little.” Ryan leaned against the door and gestured to his emergency t-shirt shorts. “Tell me the pants do it for you.”
Sauri tilted his head and his gaze drifted down Ryan’s chest. “Do what?”
“That was my best flirting line right there, Sauri.” Ryan tried to hold his smile back, but it wouldn’t stay down. If he taught Sauri how to live in a city, would the Alpha ever stop being this adorable?
Nope. No way.
“Oh!” Sauri’s eyebrows climbed. “You are ready to mate now!”
Ryan bit his lip and nodded, and his fingers worked the knots on the ruined t-shirt around his hips. He doubted there was a sexy way to do this, but he was willing to give it a try, so he picked at one knot until it came loose and let the material fall.
Sauri’s body rose. His shoulders and spine became straight as he lifted his head. He took a step toward Ryan, then another, and his bright eyes remained fixed on Ryan’s hands.
Ryan moved to a knot the other side to work with so that the material wouldn’t fall away and expose him once it was undone. He gave Sauri his best coy gaze, but he doubted the other man saw it; Sauri seemed rapt by Ryan’s slow striptease.
He traced fingertips up his own thigh until he found the knot at his waist, and he tugged and wriggled it until he could unfasten it. When he did, he held both ends.
Sauri made a faint sound, like a whimper only deeper.
He released the material. It slid down his thighs until it broke free and fluttered to the floor, and he stood bare in front of Sauri’s eyes.
Sauri closed the distance until their chests touched. Their sweat transferred heat between them. Sauri groaned again, and bumped his nose to Ryan’s, then tilted his head aside to kiss him.
Ryan parted his lips and allowed Sauri to enter his mouth. The tongue was no invader; it was a welcome guest, and Sauri explored the confines of his mouth with slow, certain care.
Ryan’s hands led themselves to Sauri’s waist, and his arms slid over the sweat-slicked skin as he wrapped them around Sauri’s lithe, powerful body. Muscles were taut springs beneath his palms, and he shivered as his mind blanked.
Sauri whimpered against his lips, and this time Ryan whined back.
Their bodies resisted parting when Sauri leaned away; Ryan’s head followed as he attempted to blindly maintain their kiss, and their skin was stuck in the slightest of vacuums. When they finally came apart it was with a light pop, and Sauri unleashed his new, sure, confident smile.
It melted Ryan’s heart.
“Come with me.”
Sauri gave Ryan his hand, and Ryan took it. He allowed Sauri to lead him through his own apartment and into his own bedroom, and then he allowed Sauri to kiss him again.
Their bodies fit together. Ryan lowered his walls and let Sauri in, and the core of his being thrummed with need for this wild, untamed creature who had come down from the mountains and forests to claim him as his mate. When Sauri turned him and pushed him against the bed he sat heavily, and the motion forced air from his lungs. It came out of him in a short, low moan.
Sauri stood before him and slid his fingers under the waistband of his pants. He hooked his thumbs outside them and pushed, sinking down into a crouch as they slid over his hips and down his taut thighs. Ryan caught a glimpse of his member, thick and tall as it sprang free of its confines, but soon it was out of sight and lost to the crouch.
Sauri eased onto his knees and left his pants around his ankles for now. His hands sought Ryan’s calves and luxuriated in the contact with them; his fingers curved around as he guided his touch up and over Ryan’s knees. When he caressed Ryan’s thighs he leaned forward and pressed his lips to the inside of Ryan’s left and drew his tongue in a slow, determined path over sensitive skin until his nose nestled against Ryan’s balls, where he took a deep breath.
Ryan’s cock jumped. He moaned, but couldn’t make any other sound. When Sauri took his length into his mouth, he gasped for air and gripped the sheets.
Need coursed through him, crashing its demands outward from Sauri’s mouth and gripping his insides in its wake. His nipples hardened into pebbles, and sweat began to trickle down his skin to leave cool trails in its wake. His balls grew tight and urgent, and his hips twitched beyond his control.
“Sauri-” he pleaded.
Sauri drew himself free and stood, kicking off the pants and his sneakers. He stepped into the space between Ryan’s knees and pressed the engorged head of his meat to Ryan’s lips.
Ryan took him in and suckled. Sauri tasted of musk and sweat, and his odor had a woodsy, earthy note he hadn’t noticed before. He grabbed Sauri’s thighs as he worked his shaft, and teased his hands up to squeeze his ass while he dragged his tongue over his slit.
Sauri’s hips bucked. Ryan held him still and bobbed more quickly, careful to thoroughly wet the silken steel in his mouth with his saliva.
Sauri thrust again, and snarled. Ryan gla
nced up to him, and found his gaze almost too intense to bear. It pinned him as surely as a butterfly in a trap, and the sudden transfer of power between them made him writhe with need. He loosened his jaw and backed away, and Sauri grabbed him by the shoulders.
Ryan’s whole body was twisted. Sauri hooked a leg around his own and used his entire body to turn Ryan onto his side, and then roll him onto his front. His stomach landed against the sheets and his knees didn’t quite reach the floor, so he scrabbled with his toes to find a grip in the carpet and offer himself up.
Sauri bowed over him and his chest nestled in perfectly against Ryan’s spine. His thighs slid between Ryan’s, and Ryan cried a wordless plea as Sauri’s head grazed over his entrance.
Then Sauri pushed inside of him.
He fell apart as he wriggled to accommodate Sauri’s cock, pushing back against him to help ease his way. He bucked and writhed, howled in ecstasy, and begged for more as Sauri claimed him.
Sauri hammered into him, and every thrust seemed to burrow its way deeper into Ryan’s very soul.
“Sauri,” he whined. “Fuck. Sauri, I- I’m-”
Sauri growled and hooked his arms under Ryan’s shoulders to pull them tight together. He sank his teeth into Ryan’s flesh and drove his shaft in hard and fast.
Ryan lost all comprehension. The world beyond Sauri exploded into nothingness, and time lost all meaning. Sauri fucked him hard, and he couldn’t tell whether he was begging or howling or warning Sauri he was close any more. He was going to come.
He was about to come.
He had to.
With an almighty roar, Ryan bucked against Sauri’s body as his cock spat his load against the side of the bed. It jerked and pulsed, and he spasmed, helpless to stop it. He felt Sauri tense and throb inside of him, and his channel flooded with the heat of his mate’s seed.
He sagged. They both sagged, together. Ryan shivered, and it triggered an echoing shudder within Sauri, which threatened to build into a feedback loop of stimulation and pleasure.
Ryan tugged his glasses free so that he could press his face to the sheets and wipe sweat from his eyes.
“You are mine,” Sauri whispered, his voice ragged in Ryan’s ear.
Ryan twitched his lips into a weak grin. “And you are mine,” he breathed.
They lay in an exhausted heap, slowly sliding off the edge of the bed together until their legs couldn’t support them any longer.
Chapter Eight
Ryan was amused to find that while Sauri had some familiarity with the concept of a shower, he wasn’t at all knowledgeable about how to use one. They made it into Ryan’s shower stand, their bodies still prone to buckled knees and twitchy hands, and he laughed as he showed Sauri the buttons and dials.
“This is complicated,” Sauri declared. “Why is there more than one button?”
“It’s one of the simplest devices humans use in their everyday lives,” Ryan chuckled. “This is common knowledge, common experience.”
Sauri’s beautiful nose crinkled. “This will be difficult.”
Ryan shook his head. “Maybe at first. I guess it’s got to be a lot like culture shock. Which is a thing people feel when they go into a whole new society,” he added at Sauri’s continued frown. “I won’t let you down.”
He reached for the shower gel and pumped some into his palms, then worked it into a lather and ran his hands reverentially over Sauri’s chest.
Sauri’s head fell forward to watch him, then he looked up again. The water clung to his curls and darkened them, but he looked no less majestic for it.
“Will you be all right?” Ryan asked his question softly. Sauri was from a wholly different culture, and Ryan didn’t want to increase any stress he might be feeling.
Sauri raised his head. “Yes. I think this is why Luna sent me here.”
Ryan’s touch became light as he reached Sauri’s fading wounds. “What do you mean?”
“I think that she has lost shifters into the human world,” Sauri murmured, “and that they are alone, as you were. Maybe their change is late, or maybe it does not even come at all. They are alone, they do not know what they are, and sooner or later they may come to their change under Luna’s gaze as you did tonight.” He pressed his lips together. “Without the presence of an Alpha, they will kill. And they will not understand why, or that they can be stopped.”
Ryan nodded slowly as he listened. “You want us to find them?”
Sauri’s expression relaxed, and he even smiled faintly. “Yes. We will gather them into the first pack ever to claim a human city as its territory.”
“That’s one hell of a goal.” Ryan chuckled. “But if anyone can do it, you can.”
“We can,” Sauri rumbled. He leaned in to claim Ryan’s mouth in a fierce, possessive kiss.
Ryan melted into it; his already-weak knees threatened to give way altogether. Sauri slid hands around his waist to hold him up.
“We can,” Ryan agreed, breathless.
They cleaned each other until the water ran cold, and Ryan showed Sauri the difference between shampoo and shower gel. When they stepped out of the cubicle he fetched towels for them both, and then another for Sauri to bundle his mass of curls into.
“I guess packs all have names, then?” he said as they headed back to the bedroom and settled on the mattress.
Sauri squeezed the towel around fistfuls of his hair. “Yes.”
“Then we’re going to need one too?”
“Yes.” Sauri smiled.
“Well, okay. So yours was Whitepaw, because, well, white paws. And the Graypelts presumably are gray.”
Sauri grinned. “You are gray.”
Ryan blinked. “I am?”
“Very dark. Not dark enough for Death Claw, though. They are like night.” Sauri nodded. “But it does not matter.”
Ryan stared at him. How could it not matter? He’d just discovered a whole new ancestry and now less than sixty seconds later he was being told it made no difference, before he could even work out what that meant for who he was.
“Your name is Miller. So will mine be.” The Alpha’s smile was dazzlingly bright. “I am Sauri Miller, and you are my mate.”
Ryan caught his breath. He couldn’t find the words to tell Sauri what that meant to him. He’d gone from strange and frightening night-visions to meeting and bonding with the man very literally of his dreams, all while finding out that shifters existed and that he was one. It had been wild, terrifying chaos, and Sauri had led him through it to the here and now, all while he came to terms with his own exile, his wounds, and his struggle to survive in a hostile, foreign world.
He was wrong. He could find the words, and when they came to him, they wrapped up everything that Sauri had done for him, and everything he wanted to do for Sauri.
“I love you.”
Sauri lay down on the bed, and drew Ryan with him.
“I love you also,” he said, and tugged his mate against his chest.
END
***
About the Author:
Amelia Faulkner was born in the rolling green countryside of Oxfordshire, and moved to London once she was mostly grown up. She has a degree in Computer Science, and spent quite a long time working with computers until her childhood love of writing could no longer be ignored.
Since then she has written for corporate clients and personal pleasure, and finally stepped away from office-bound working in 2011 to freelance from home.
Amelia is also a keen photographer and film-goer, and resides in the city (not the City) with her husband. She is notoriously camera-shy.
Visit her website at http://ameliafaulkner.com
You can find all of Amelia Faulkner’s books on:
AMAZON
***
Claiming Their Royal Mate, Part One
By Andie Devaux
CHAPTER ONE
Holy crap. How had she accumulated so many clothes that no longer fit?
Barely keeping hold of the
bags full of old clothes, Daniella Clark bumped her butt into the door to push it open. Stepping into the hallway, she hit something nearly as hard as the door—something that grunted at the contact. The bags slipped from her fingers to land on the threshold. The hard body she’d run into was attached to a large man blocking her doorway, and her glare didn’t seem to ruffle him at all.
The jerk was always in her way lately.
“Jeez. Way to skulk around my door. What do you want, Owen?” Daniella asked, hating the breathiness in her voice.
Her neighbor stared at her for a moment, and his nostrils flared. Something passed behind his gaze. Something that made her breath catch and tension build between her legs. But just as quickly as it appeared, it was gone. And he shrugged, arrogant mask engaged.
“I was just passing by. Not my fault you didn’t look where you were going.”
The man was seriously aggravating. She could hardly believe they’d been good friends the last year, ever since she’d accidentally locked herself out of her apartment. He’d been kind enough to give her a place to hang out while she’d waited for the building’s superintendent to show up with the key. From then on, they’d hung out at least once a week, sometimes more, depending on her schedule. That is, up until a month ago.
“I’m getting sick of you always being in my way, Owen.” She picked up the bags, needing something to look at that wasn’t her ridiculously hot neighbor. Her attraction to him itself was irritating because he wasn’t her type, even if he did make her weak in the knees. His face was hard, chiseled and memorable, but his features were too strong to be considered traditionally handsome—his nose too Roman and his jaw a little too wide. Not to mention he rarely smiled at her anymore, and she liked men who weren’t afraid to enjoy life.
Heck, that was why she’d liked his company for so long—his easy laughter and quick wit. Over the last month, it was as if he’d turned into a different man. One who didn’t smile much and who was quick to anger.
Howl & Growl: A Paranormal Romance Boxed Set Page 28