“Not exactly.”
“Well, the claiming obviously can’t be used in front of a judge, so I suggest for you two to get married. It might not be recognized in Wyoming, but it could help.”
Denver’s brain froze. They were really talking about marriage? Of course, it wasn’t any different from a claiming, but it made everything official. Denver could feel the panic starting to bubble in his chest, and Jeremy obviously noticed it because he reached for Denver’s hand. “We haven’t talked about that yet, but I don’t think it’s going to happen anytime soon. For now it’s enough for me that you think Deborah won’t be able to get Adam and that my relationship with Denver isn’t a problem.”
“If you receive anything from her lawyer just send it to me and I’ll deal with it.”
“Thank you, but I’m not sure I can afford your guidance.” Jeremy’s cheeks were pink as he admitted it.
“I’m sure life as a single dad isn’t easy, but don’t worry about that. Dominic was very clear, he will be the one to pay for anything that you need from me.”
Jeremy opened his mouth, probably to argue, so Denver quickly stood up and said goodbye to a smiling Andrew before dragging Jeremy to the exit of the small office.
“Why would Dominic do that? I don’t know if I can repay him.”
“You’re a part of the pride now, so he will do anything to help. Besides, I think he would be lost without Adam running around the house.” Jeremy and Adam had been in the mansion for only three days but everyone was already in love with the kid, especially the big lion.
They got in the car and Jeremy winced at the sound of the doors slamming close. Damn, it was becoming a necessity to claim him. “Jeremy...” Denver took his mate’s hand and cradled it in his own. “I think it’s time you let me claim you. I know your headaches are becoming more painful and persistent, and I don’t want you to get worse. We don’t have to do anything else, just let me bite you, please.”
Jeremy smiled. “Yeah, you’re right, it’s getting worse. I just...I feel like I’m pushing you to do something you don’t want.”
“Why?” Denver wanted the man next to him very much, even if he had never actually told Jeremy that. He really should try and talk more.
“We’ve talked a lot and we even kissed, but that’s all. You didn’t try to do anything else.” The pink color on his mate’s face was cute, but Denver didn’t like the reason for which it was there. “I know I’m not much physically, but there’s nothing I can do about it right now.” Jeremy’s eyes were down, and it hurt Denver that his mate thought he wasn’t good enough. He had to man up and talk, tell Jeremy what he felt for him.
“You’re perfect just as you are. I think you’re hot and I can’t wait to get in your pants. I was just trying to give you time to get used to the idea.” Okay, so it wasn’t the most romantic thing to say, but it was true.
“Really? You don’t mind that I’m not as young or as thin as, I don’t know, Keenan? All the men in that house are either huge and muscled or small and cute, but you’re all hot. I’m just me, plain, old Jeremy.”
“You’re not old, and you’re not plain. You have beautiful eyes, I love the way your hair curls around you ears, and I like that you’re more than skin and bones. I would be afraid to break you if you were as small as Keenan.” Denver could feel his cheeks heating, but he knew Jeremy needed to hear this, so he went on. “I wanted to pull you up on the hood of your car and fuck you right there and then that day at the store, and I’ve been thinking about it since then. If you want me, then I’m yours.”
Jeremy looked at him, his eyes searching Denver’s face. Denver didn’t know what Jeremy saw there, but his eyes changed, and he knew his mate had made a decision.
“Take me home, then. Take me home and claim me in any way you can.”
Denver hesitated, he wanted to be sure he had understood what Jeremy was saying. “You mean you want to...” His cheeks were hot again, damn it! When was Denver going to stop being embarrassed? This was his mate, his everything. He shouldn’t feel like a five year old who has been caught doing something he shouldn’t have!
A soft caress on his cheek made him look up and he nearly jumped when Jeremy bent toward him and softly kissed him. Denver looked around. They were still parked on the street, and anyone could have seen it. “I mean I want you to claim me and to make love to me. Show me how good it can be between two men.”
Jeremy chuckled when Denver scrambled to turn the car on and get it on the road as fast as he could, and Denver had never heard anything more beautiful.
Chapter Four
Things didn’t go as Jeremy had planned them. He really had thought that he would finally have sex with Denver, and god, he had been so happy, even with the fear still present. Being near the man all week and not touching him had been hell. He didn’t know why he was reacting so much to Denver’s presence, but the fact was that his cock was always ready for action when they were together.
Anyway, he had arrived to the mansion to find Adam crying because he wanted his daddy and he was having a hard time calming the boy. He clung to Jeremy as if he was afraid he was going to disappear. “Pumpkin, what’s wrong?” Jeremy knew that Adam was still a little too small to properly answer the question, but he knew his son could give him at least a partial answer, maybe tell him what he was feeling.
“Missed you, daddy.”
“Sweetheart, daddy isn’t going anywhere.” Adam was usually very independent, and it broke Jeremy’s heart to see him like this, even if he knew it was normal. His pumpkin had seen so many changes in only a handful of days, and even if he seemed fine. It must have caught up with him. It made him forget the headache and the mess with Deborah.
“Do you want me to take care of him while you go shower?”
Denver was very sweet to ask. God knew Jeremy couldn’t wait to go to bed, but Adam had to be bathed and put to bed first. “Don’t worry, I’ll do it.”
Denver crouched next to them and held his hand out to Adam. “Hey, kiddie, what do you think? You want me to give you your bath and put you to bed?”
Adam looked up, his eyes still shimmering with tears. “Are you going to read me a story?”
Denver hesitated and looked at Jeremy for guidance, so Jeremy nodded. Denver knew their bedtime routine by now, so it shouldn’t be a problem, but he had never tended to Adam on his own. Jeremy wasn’t worried, though. He knew Denver was going to do his best.
“Sure. You can choose the story after you brush your teeth.”
Adam scrambled down from Jeremy’s lap and raised his small hand for Denver to take. The tiger looked at Jeremy. “Are you going to be okay?”
“Yeah, don’t worry. I’m going to shower and go to bed. Just bring Adam for a goodnight kiss when he’s done.” Denver hesitated but he leaned down and kissed Jeremy. Adam didn’t even react, which Jeremy supposed was pretty normal for a kid his age. When Denver backed away, he stopped him just the time to whisper, “Thank you” to him, then he let them go, the giant and the boy. It was incredible how gentle Denver could be even if he was so much bigger than Adam was or even than Jeremy for that matter.
The headache got worse as Jeremy quickly showered, and he felt like he barely made it to the bed. He burrowed under the covers, his eyes closed as he tried to relax and listened to the sounds carrying from the rest of the house. He could hear people talking and laughing, and he found it surprisingly nice to live with so many people. There might be more than thirty people around, but the house was so big that it didn’t even seem crowded. Well, not much anyway.
Jeremy felt the bed move and he opened his eyes, blinking when even the soft light hurt his eyes and made his head pound. He watched as his son crawled to him and snuggled in his open arms, the scent of his shampoo comforting and familiar as he smiled up at Denver and mouthed thank you. His mate sat next to them and leaned against the headboard, completing them.
“Daddy, are you sick?”
<
br /> “Daddy is just tired, pumpkin. I’ll be fine tomorrow. Did you take your bath?”
“Yes. Dad is funny! He played with the duck!”
Jeremy froze and looked at Denver. The man’s eyes were wide as he looked down at Adam, his mouth slightly open in shock. “Pumpkin, is Denver your dad?”
Small green eyes looked up at him. “Yes.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Because he kissed daddy and holds his hand.” Adam didn’t add the duh at the end of the phrase, but Jeremy still heard it.
Jeremy hadn’t been aware that Adam associated kissing with being a family, but it made sense. He probably had seen quite a bit of kissing around the house between the many couples, and between his friends’ parents. He wished things were always that simple.
Jeremy looked at Denver, unsure if he should explain to Adam that Denver was not his other dad or if he should let it go. It would make sense to let him believe so since they would mate, but he wasn’t the one who had to decide.
His mate’s eyes were still wide and bewildered, but when Jeremy arched a brow at him in question, he slowly nodded. Jeremy looked down at his son again, smiling at the chatter that was still going on as Adam talked about what he had done today. “Come on, pumpkin, it’s time to go to bed. Give me a kiss.”
Adam scrambled up and placed a sloppy kiss on Jeremy’s cheek before crawling to Denver and taking his hand, urging him to stand up. Denver’s lips were open in a dazzling smile that took Jeremy’s breath away. The man had never been so gorgeous.
Jeremy leaned back into his pillow and closed his eyes, amazed at how much such a small kid could understand, and at how much he could change things with only a few words. It seemed that Adam had made Denver’s day by calling him dad, and Jeremy liked it. He just hoped things would work between them, but from what he had seen with the other mated pairs, apart from the same spats every couple had, they were very close.
“He’s in bed.” Denver’s soft voice startled Jeremy and he flinched as pain shot through his brain. Denver was immediately next to him, his hands rough but gentle as he helped Jeremy in a sitting position. “I’m sorry, Jeremy, but I have to claim you. You can’t go on like that.”
Jeremy nodded. Denver was right. Not only did his head hurt like a bitch, but he had been feeling pain in his joints for a few hours by now. He had wanted to wait because he knew mating and sex went hand in hand for shifters, but he wasn’t up for a roll in the sheets right now.
Denver moved and settled behind Jeremy, leaning his back against the headboard before pulling Jeremy to him so that they were back against chest. Denver’s arms wounded around Jeremy’s upper body, making him feel safe and warm as he felt his mate’s hot breath fanning against his neck.
“Is it going to hurt?”
“Only right in the beginning, but from what I found out when I asked the other human mates, it becomes pleasurable right after that.” Jeremy’s heart swelled at the idea that Denver had overcome his dislike of conversations to ask the others about his well-being. “Are you ready?”
Jeremy nodded and closed his eyes again. He felt a hot and moist tongue sliding along the soft skin of his neck, then full lips sucking on his pulse, making him shiver in delight and almost forget how much he was hurting. Then, just as Denver’s arms tightened around him, Jeremy felt a zing of pain as Denver’s teeth penetrated his flesh, quickly replaced by so much pleasure that his cock went from half-mast to erect in seconds, right before Jeremy came without any type of stimulation. His cock jerked in his pajamas, spurting jet after jet of hot, sticky seed, the wet spot getting bigger and bigger. Jeremy felt something snap inside him and feelings not his flooding his mind. He recognized lust and contentment, happiness and satisfaction, but it was too much for him.
He heard himself moan Denver’s name before he lost his battle against the darkness and fell asleep.
* * * *
Shit! Shit, shit, shit! Denver had still been in full bliss when he had felt Jeremy sag against his body. That had jerked him out of it, and panic had started to rise when he had seen his mate was unconscious. He wanted to haul Jeremy up and bring him to Jared, the pride’s doctor, but Denver didn’t want to leave Adam alone, so he had scrambled to reach his cell phone while trying not to jostle his mate too much. Luckily, it had still been in his pocket.
“Hello? Denver?” From the noise he could tell that the doc was still probably in the dining room. Trying not to sound too panicky, Denver started to talk.
“Doc, Jeremy just fainted. We’re in my room.”
He heard Jared getting up and starting to move. “I’m coming. What happened?”
“He hasn’t been feeling too good in the past days, and I know the headaches were getting worse, so I claimed him, and he just passed out.”
“Okay. Did you just bite him or did you claim him physically as well?”
Denver felt his cheeks heating. He wasn’t used to talking to people in general, let alone of something so intimate and personal, but Jared had to know to help Jeremy. “I just bit him. He was in too much pain to do anything else.”
By the time he had finished talking, Denver heard a knock at the suite’s door and someone opening it without waiting for an answer. The bedroom’s door opened right away and Jared walked in. He laid his phone on the dresser and came over to the bed. Denver had been afraid to move, so he had just checked that Jeremy was still breathing, and they were still in the same position.
Jared helped him to lay Jeremy down and Denver moved from behind him. There wasn’t much he could do while Jared examined his mate, so he walked to the bathroom and cleaned himself. He hadn’t thought he would come just by tasting his mate’s blood, but it had been so good. He had wanted to make the claiming something soft and caring, and instead he had ended up coming all over his pants and knocking Jeremy into unconsciousness. Way to go, tiger!
Still, since he had smelled the scent of Jeremy’s seed in the air and he had felt his mate jerk and moan as a feeling of bliss passed in their connection, he could guess that the experience had been as good for Jeremy as for Denver. He was just worried because Jeremy had fainted.
Denver didn’t have a change of clothes in the bathroom so he had to put his soiled pants back on, but it would do until Jared was done. He also grabbed a warm, wet cloth to clean up Jeremy before going back to the bedroom.
Jared was already done. He had tucked Jeremy back under the covers and was sitting on the armchair in the corner of the room.
“How is he?” Denver dropped the cloth on the nightstand and loomed over his mate as if just by looking at him Jeremy would get better.
“He just passed out. I’m thinking it’s been a mix between the pain and weakened state he has been experiencing and the, umm, pleasure from the mating bite. He will be fine as soon as he has enough rest. I’m guessing he’ll wake up tomorrow as if nothing happened.”
Denver let out his breath, finally reassured. Logically, he had known it would be something like that since he could feel what Jeremy was feeling even in his sleep, but his emotions had gotten the best of him, and he wasn’t used to it.
“Thanks, doc.”
“It was nothing.” Jared waved Denver’s concern away. “Congratulations on your mating, and I’ll see you tomorrow. If there’s anything wrong in the morning, bring Jeremy to my office.”
Once the doc was out, Denver pulled back the covers and took care of his mate. He took off the dirty pajama pants and cleaned him up before putting on a fresh pair and covering him again. Denver wanted nothing more than to slide into the bed next to Jeremy, but he wanted to talk to Dominic first, so he quickly changed and headed for the lion’s office. That’s where they could usually find him, although these days things were a little different. The Alpha was still trying to woo his mate, but Ani was still terrified by big men, and Dominic was definitely big. Not as big as Denver, but it was a close thing.
“Come in.”
&nbs
p; Denver entered and found his Alpha bitching over the cell phone in his hand. “Umm, something wrong? I can come back later or tomorrow.”
Dominic waved Denver in. “No, no, everything is fine. Well, not quite, but...how do you manage to use this thing? It’s so tiny I can’t type anything right!”
“Well, mine isn’t so small, and I only have to type in phone numbers, so it’s no big deal.”
“How am I supposed to send text messages to Ani if I can’t type them right?” Dominic growled in frustration and Denver chuckled. The lion’s head snapped up and Denver froze. Shit, had he just laughed at the Alpha?
“I see Nate isn’t the only one being mellowed by his mate.” Denver let out a small sigh of relief. “Don’t worry, you can laugh at me as much as you can. I’m not used to...romancing my partner, and this time it’s even more important. I’m trying to get Ani used to me, but it’s hard when he doesn’t even want to stay in the same room as me, so I have to find another way. Obviously, texting is out, though.”
“I guess you’re right. Jeremy...is helping me to understand that I can trust people.”
Dominic put his cell phone on the desk and crossed his arms on his chest. “So, what can I do for you? Is Jeremy fine?”
Had the lion already heard what had happened earlier? Denver didn’t think so, but Dominic always seemed to know everything that was going on around the mansion, so it was a possibility. “He’s fine, or at least he will be in the morning since I claimed him.”
“What about Andrew? What did he say?”
“That we shouldn’t have problems with Jeremy’s ex. She doesn’t have any way to get Adam back, but he did suggest for us to, uh, get married.” Denver blushed when Dominic chuckled.
“Are you ready to get hitched?”
“I don’t think so. I mean, I like Jeremy, I really like him, but marriage? Besides, I don’t want to take that step just because we need to. It’s enough that I had to mate him because I needed to for him to be okay.”
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