by Odessa Lynne
“Wolves have been communicating with me,” Salvadore said.
Alan gave Salvadore a hard look. “Not just wolves apparently.”
“I’m not psychic.”
“No, you’re not. And these things we’re telling you are secrets that aren’t meant to be shared with other humans, not yet.”
“Big secrets,” Devon said from across the room, making it clear he’d been listening to everything being said even if he did look fully absorbed by whatever it was he was doing. His fingers slid silently over the screen in front of him.
“And by ‘not meant to be shared,’” Ian added, uncrossing his arms long enough to make a vague gesture that encompassed the entire building, “we mean no one can know. Not your family, not any other humans that come in here, not anyone. You get to know because you’ve been infected and there are reasons you need to be aware of that.”
“And God Almighty,” Devon said, looking up this time and catching Salvadore’s gaze, “don’t use that word around the wolves. You’ll offend them all. They consider the biotech a gift from the universe and it was supposed to remain a gift. The damn tech wasn’t supposed to start transferring person to person so goddamn fast.”
Alan pointed at Devon. “Let me and Ian tell this, or I’m kicking you out of my lab.”
Devon scowled as if he might argue, then snorted. “Fine, asshole. Tell it, but try not to make it so boring why don’t you?”
Ian looked like he might object but Alan raised his eyebrows at him and Ian seemed to have second thoughts. He remained silent and Devon turned back to his work.
Alan leaned into the table on his elbows and clasped his hands together in front of him, staring steadily at Salvadore. “There’s a certain adaptation that happens in some of the wolves, leading to a higher concentration of the biotech in their brains and along their optic nerves and it gives them certain advantages. They become what the wolves call watchers.”
“They can read minds,” Salvadore said.
Alan gestured, using both hands. “That’s not really—”
“Oh, I know that’s not what Wolf says it is. That it’s some kind of communications the others are sending out, but you tell me how that’s really any different? He can call it what he wants—all of you can—but so can I. They’re damned mind readers.”
Devon’s muttered “Ha” carried across the room.
Ian shook his head but smiled at Salvadore.
“So how’d I get infected?” Salvadore asked Alan.
Alan opened his mouth to answer but Devon beat him to it.
“Sorry kid, but what you got is the first known case of sexually transmitted alien biotech.”
Ian snapped out, “For God’s sake, Devon, shut the hell up so Alan can do his job here or I’m going to come over there and knock you on your ass.”
Salvadore’s fingers curled against the counter. “Are you serious?” He looked at Alan. “Is he serious?”
Devon scoffed, started to say something else, but a faint beeping alarm sounded and he turned his attention quickly to one of the computers, pushing his finger against a flat screen and making the sound stop as quickly as it had started. “Son of a bitch,” he muttered. “This is going to be harder than I thought.”
“Go on,” Ian said to Alan. “Better get through it while he’s distracted. Craig’ll be pissed if I actually do have to kick his ass.”
Alan laughed, as if there was a story there, and then tried to explain to Salvadore exactly why he and the wolves he worked with thought the biotech had concentrated inside Salvadore the way it had, the same way it concentrated in some of the wolves’ brains, and what that meant for Sal.
His eyes were to blame—or more specifically, what his father had done to his eyes.
Either way, he couldn’t stop the memory of that wolf with the deep black eyes saying, “Your fate is in your eyes, child. You won’t be able to hide forever.”
He guessed, in a way, that wolf had been right.
He was still trying to digest everything Alan had told him, wondering if he’d missed a question he’d want answered later, when Devon snarled from his place at the counter across the room, “That goddamn son of a bitch!”
Salvadore tensed, while Ian turned, and Alan stood.
Devon was yanking one of the fine cables free of the larger of the flat computers, and he rose, sending his stool sliding backward so fast it banged into the wall behind him. He stalked across the room, already holding the screen out for all of them. He tossed it onto the metal counter.
Salvadore stopped the screen’s careening slide with the flat of his palm. He looked down to see a guy with the same light brown hair as the person who had in all likelihood left that phone for him to find—the same person who might have stolen the secrets stored in the device inside Salvadore.
“Is that him?” Devon demanded, fury vibrating in his voice. “You said you saw the back of his head and a flash of blue. I’ve seen him in a blue shirt plenty of times—must be his favorite goddamn color. So is it?”
“I—” Salvadore studied the guy once more just to be sure. A few streaks of darker brown were mixed in with the light, and surprisingly he didn’t have much trouble recalling exactly what he’d seen. Alan had told him he might notice changes in how well he recalled newer memories.
Ian wore a concerned expression and he kept glancing at the image Devon had pulled up on the screen.
“Yeah,” Salvadore said. “Pretty sure that’s him.”
“Goddamn Gerald. I’m going to kill him,” Devon said.
Ian didn’t waste any time. He contacted Craig and sent Salvadore back to his temporary home with Wolf.
Chapter 29
“I need a job,” Salvadore said.
Wolf nuzzled the back of Salvadore’s neck and slowly stroked his hand up and down the column of Salvadore’s throat. They were sitting on the edge of the bed, shirtless, Salvadore in front of Wolf, with Wolf’s thighs spread around Salvadore’s hips.
He was supposed to be getting a back rub.
Wolf seemed a lot more interested in sniffing his way up and down Salvadore’s spine and playing with Salvadore’s throat than he did in rubbing Salvadore’s back.
“I have a job for you,” Wolf said.
Salvadore laughed softly. “You want to fuck again, don’t you?”
Teeth dragged along the nape of Salvadore’s neck. A startled laugh escaped and he scrunched his shoulders and tried to twist free. “No, no, no! Don’t start that again.”
Wolf’s hand tightened at Salvadore’s throat, and his arm came around Salvadore’s chest. “Have I told you how important your laugh is to me? How it helps me control my heat?”
“You’ve—mentioned it,” Salvadore said, his breath hitching on the words.
Hot breath tickled the nape of Salvadore’s neck as Wolf said, “Have I told you how much pleasure I get from holding you still while I mate you?” The knuckle of one of Wolf’s fingers dragged across the closest of Salvadore’s nipples.
Salvadore had trouble swallowing. “Uh—no.”
“I like holding you down when we fuck, my hand over your vulnerable spine. It shows me how much trust and affection you have for me.” Wolf pinched Salvadore’s nipple between his knuckles, tugging a little sharper than Salvadore expected. Salvadore gasped and grabbed for Wolf’s hand. His cock was so hard he ached.
He liked it when Wolf held him down too, so tightly that Salvadore could hardly breathe sometimes. It should have freaked him out. In light of some of the things he’d been witness to so long ago, he was sure it really should. But when Wolf held him like that, he felt safe. Secure. Like anyone who wanted to get to him would have to go through Wolf first.
He’d always done just fine taking care of himself when he had to—but it was nice to feel like Wolf was there, offering protection, strength—love. He wanted that, and despite how short a time he’d known Wolf, he didn’t believe this was a fantasy. Wolf cared about him, deeply, and if the universe h
ad planned anything for him, this was it.
This was his fate.
It was a better fate than he could have ever hoped for, even if it meant he had to learn to deal with his fear of the wolves and their heat. He could do that. For Wolf. For himself.
“Is Ty really the name you go by with humans?” Salvadore asked.
“Yes.” Wolf’s trousers weren’t hiding the fact that his cock had become as hard as an iron rod against Salvadore’s lower spine.
“I should call you that.” It would be less insulting than to keep calling him Wolf. He’d done it out of anger, and now it didn’t feel right to ignore Wolf’s own preferences just because he couldn’t imagine calling Wolf anything else.
“No. You will keep calling me Wolf.”
“I shouldn’t. It’s not really your—”
“Submit,” Wolf growled, his teeth a sharp prick at the side of Salvadore’s neck.
The sensation jolted through Salvadore, tightening his stomach. “Okay, okay. I submit. I’ll keep calling you Wolf. I like it better anyway.”
Wolf began kissing Salvadore along his throat and across his collarbone, the hot, wet press of Wolf’s mouth causing his skin to prickle with goose bumps.
Salvadore started rubbing his cock through his pants, unable to resist the urge another moment.
Wolf nipped Salvadore’s shoulder—one quick, stinging bite.
“Hey!” Salvadore said, but he took the hint and stopped rubbing his dick.
Wolf swiped his tongue over Salvadore’s tingling skin. “Your submission drives me mad with lust, but it also soothes the fire of heat in my blood.”
“The only thing that’s going to soothe me right now is your hand—” Salvadore tugged on Wolf’s hand and pressed it to the hard bulge of his cock beneath his pants. “—on my dick.”
If he didn’t get some relief soon, his cock was going to explode—and not in the fun way.
Wolf started nuzzling the side of Salvadore’s throat. Salvadore sighed and dropped his head back but then let out a startled cry when Wolf rolled him unexpectedly, coming down on top of him.
Salvadore’s face pushed into the pillows and he sputtered, knocking one of them aside so he could breathe without sucking in the fine tassel at the edges.
Wolf’s hand curled around the back of Salvadore’s neck, and he manhandled Salvadore until his knees were under him and his ass was in the air and his pants were on the floor.
He’d lubed up in the bathroom earlier, in anticipation of Wolf’s return. Good thing too, because Wolf didn’t seem to be in the mood to take things slow. Salvadore heard the rustle of fabric, heard the rattle of Wolf’s fly opening, and then Wolf’s thick cock was starting an inexorable slide into Salvadore’s ass.
“Oh fuck,” Salvadore gasped, the stretch and burn so lovely and hot he couldn’t wait for Wolf to be fully inside, pounding his ass.
“You’re mine,” Wolf said, thrusting deep. “Remind me how sweetly you submit to me.”
Salvadore struggled to catch his breath, his hands clenching in the bed’s soft blanket. “I submit.”
“Do you see them?” Wolf asked. “See how envious they are.”
“What?” Salvadore gasped, trying to turn his head. But of course he couldn’t, not with half Wolf’s weight on his back and that strong hand holding him by the back of the neck.
Wolf shifted, lifting Salvadore right off the bed with a hand across his chest. He reached for Salvadore’s cock. “My heat is rising quickly. Come for me.”
“I—” That was when he realized what Wolf had said, what he meant. The window loomed in front of them, the view into the house beside them clear enough that he definitely saw a couple of wolves staring his way.
“Are those guys watching us?”
Wolf glanced across the room, to the window, then back to Salvadore. “Does the idea that they are bother you?”
“They are?” His voice rose embarrassingly high. He covered Wolf’s hand with his, trying to hide what he could. “Do you guys not believe in privacy at all?”
“They wouldn’t dare enter into our home without a welcome, but there’s no reason for them to avert their eyes from what’s put freely on display.”
Salvadore thought he might be dying from humiliation. His face and chest had flushed hot and his mouth had gone dry. He finally managed to choke out, “I didn’t know I was on display.”
“No one in that cabin with Alpha Rick believed you would ever submit. The fact that you’ve submitted to me has brought me considerable attention. My status was already high because I’m a watcher and because I was able to break away from my former alpha, but now—” Wolf’s expression took on a sharp, proud look. “—your submission has greatly improved it. They can only watch with envy every time you submit to me.”
Salvadore tried to pull away, but Wolf yanked him back against his chest, growling softly. A gasp escaped Salvadore as Wolf’s cock jolted deeper.
“They can’t touch you,” Wolf said. “They can only see how beautiful you are as you submit.”
“It doesn’t matter if they can—Oh, oh, fuck.”
Wolf had angled his hips and his cock had slid right over Salvadore’s prostate. Sweat collected on Salvadore’s chest.
“Let them watch,” Wolf said and then his tongue swiped over the bump of Salvadore’s spine at the base of his neck.
“I—” He couldn’t think and his objection died in his throat.
Wolf fucked Salvadore, slower than usual, as if to prove he hadn’t yet lost all sense to his coming heat cycle, and he worked Salvadore’s cock at the same time. Wolf’s other hand had flattened against the center of Salvadore’s chest, holding him firmly in place, and he flicked the edge of his thumb across the peaked tip of one of Salvadore’s nipples.
The dark pleasure of it all made it hard for Salvadore to keep his eyes open. He gave up worrying about what the wolves would see and pushed into every thrust until he could feel the edges of his orgasm flickering along his nerves.
“Your claws…” he gasped.
Wolf’s panting breath puffed against the back of Salvadore’s neck and his fingers flexed against Salvadore’s breastbone. “I won’t hurt you.”
“I… know.” He licked his lips. He slid down on Wolf’s cock again, seconds from coming all over himself. Oh fuck. “I want to feel them on my chest.”
Wolf stilled behind him and then growled against Salvadore’s neck. His claws jutted out from beneath his fingernails, tickling Salvadore’s skin where they touched him. Salvadore gasped and Wolf pushed him down on the bed and started rutting into Salvadore with considerably less control than he’d been showing up to that moment. He felt the wet warmth of semen spurting deep into his ass with Wolf’s first orgasm.
Which was ironic, because the reason Salvadore wanted to feel those claws on him was because he liked seeing the evidence of how much control Wolf had over himself. Only fate could have brought him together with a wolf who had such powerful control over his instincts, when everyone knew the wolves lost all sense to the rage of their heat when they caught the scent of a human.
Wolf had reached his limits though and he fucked Salvadore with all the desperation he’d shown every other time his heat cycle surged through him.
But Salvadore didn’t mind. He might always be afraid of wolves’ claws, but he wouldn’t be afraid of Wolf’s.
“Oh yeah,” Salvadore groaned. “Oh fuck yeah.”
Wolf’s semen spurted deep a second time, and his hand was a hot, slick sleeve around Salvadore’s dick. Salvadore came, his orgasm shooting through him with a pleasure that made his whole body shudder.
* * *
Late the next day, Salvadore was staring across the room at the newly curtained windows. He nodded to himself and flopped back on the bench that sat at one edge of the bed, leaving his legs to dangle over the side. He’d thrown on jeans but nothing else and the carpet over the cool wood floor was warm under his feet.
“I have a job for you
,” Wolf said, and the sound of his voice startled Salvadore so badly he almost fell off the side of the bench in his hurry to get up.
“What the fuck? Don’t scare me like that.” Salvadore rubbed his bare chest but his heart continued to thud at twice its normal speed. “Make some noise next time.”
“I’m sorry. I expected you to be more alert.”
“Yeah, and I expected a chance to let my guard down in my own home.”
“I am sorry.” Wolf crossed the room, his eyes flickering behind Salvadore.
Ah.
“What do you think?”
“I think our bed sheets don’t make attractive window coverings.”
“I’d rather choose when I let some voyeur enjoy a peep show.”
Wolf’s gaze came to rest on Salvadore. “You enjoyed the last peep show.”
“No, I enjoyed the fucking. I could’ve lived without the peep show.”
“If you don’t want anyone watching you submit, I’ll see to it that it doesn’t happen again.”
Salvadore rubbed his forefinger and thumb together at his side and contemplated Wolf. “I didn’t say that… exactly.”
Wolf’s eyes zeroed in on Salvadore’s face. “Then what exactly are you saying? You’re confusing me with your conflicting messages.”
“Are you reading my mind again?”
“You communicated with me several times yesterday. You enjoyed the attention of our neighbors, and the ‘peep show’ intensified your pleasure.” Wolf’s voice had deepened on “peep show,” making it sound even dirtier and more appealing than it should.
Salvadore pursed his lips. “Just because I liked it doesn’t mean…” He trailed off. Where the hell was he supposed to go with that? His reasons for not wanting others to watch him and Wolf fucking were based more on emotion that anything else.
Because there was absolutely no point arguing that he hadn’t gotten a thrill out of it, even that last time, when he’d caught sight of multiple wolves watching him through the windows and Wolf had been holding him down and licking his asshole like it was the best thing he’d ever tasted. Salvadore had come all over himself without any extra effort at all on Wolf’s part.