by Sky Winters
Bronson had been on Hunter’s mind nonstop since the incident in the woods. He wanted to make sure that he was all right, that the mountain lions hadn’t hurt him. He had a feeling all was well, but he didn’t want to make assumptions. If there was anything he could do to make it up to Bronson, he would do it.
But he had an ulterior motive, too. Every night since the wolf fight, he’d woken up with a hard-on from hell. His dreams were consumed by memories and fantasies involving Bronson and his capable, gorgeous body. He hated himself for feeling any sexual feelings toward anybody but Tyler, but god help him, he couldn’t stop his dreams. They left him walking around all day in a daze, slipping into the bathroom to relieve himself when the desire became too much. He wanted to see Bronson again. He needed to see him again. To apologize. And, maybe, for a chance to feel something other than this grief, guilt, and anger.
Hunter picked up his car keys and twirled them around his finger. Apparently, he had made up his mind about what he was going to do.
On the way out of the motel, Ed stopped him.
“Girl dropped by here. A Bella Rose. Said you should give her a call about a job opportunity. Don’t know why she didn’t ring your room directly…”
Hunter paused, surprised.
“I didn’t actually give her my number. Or where I was staying, for that matter.”
“Must have been a lucky guess,” Ed said. “I don’t much like luck.”
Hunter smiled at Ed and shrugged. The man’s dark demeanor had become somewhat comical to Hunter. It was nice to know that compared to somebody else, he was actually optimistic.
“How many motels can there be around here, Ed? You’re the only one, right?”
Ed grunted, and Hunter turned to walk away.
“Don’t worry about it. People are probably talking about me. Strangers in small towns get small minds racing, don’t they?”
Ed chortled, a rare but pleasant sound. “Truth in those words, yeah,” he acknowledged. “Still, don’t make it a habit of having me take calls for you. I ain’t no secretary.”
“Sure, Ed,” Hunter said, grinning. Why was he in such a good mood? It had been a long time since he’d felt like this. Not since…
But now wasn’t the time to think about that. Hunter ducked into his car, his mind buzzing with possibilities. A new job. And a chance to see the person he’d been obsessing over for the past week. It just felt good that he was going to get in touch with Bronson and do the right thing. It was time for him to apologize.
Chapter 16
Bronson leaned his back against a tree trunk and wiped the sweat from his brow. He’d been patrolling the area day and night, and he was tired. He’d been taking his role as Alpha more seriously than he ever had before. Now that it was just him and the healers in town, it was more important than ever to continually reinforce the borders and make sure that the mountain lion shifters didn’t realize just how vulnerable the town’s population was. If they did, they might try to reclaim what they considered as their land.
He would have to stay diligent. But if he kept getting into fights like the one he’d had protecting Hunter, he wasn’t sure how long he was going to last on his own. He wished the others would come back soon, whether they brought the Omega female hybrid or not.
Bronson lifted his canteen to his lips and chugged the refreshing cool water, his dark eyes scanning the horizon. There hadn’t been any attacks in days, which meant there was bound to be something bad just around the corner. The mountain lion shifters were steady and methodical. They liked to take at least one casualty per month, and so far, everyone in the town had been safe. It was getting to be a little bit too calm for Bronson to feel comfortable with. But the double shifts were leaving him tired and off his game.
“Hey.”
Bronson whirled around with his fists clenched and struck at the air, narrowly missing Hunter’s face. The boy’s silver-blue eyes widened in surprise and he ducked away.
“I guess I deserved that after the last time we saw each other,” Hunter said, laughing sheepishly.
Bronson quickly pulled his clenched fists back and hid them behind his back. He felt ashamed that he was too jumpy—or too exhausted—to be able to smell Hunter before striking. The man’s scent had a way of making him feel hot and alive. He was the kind of man Bronson wanted to both protect and dominate. It was distracting.
“Nice evasion,” he said. For some reason, he was lost for words. He had no idea what to say to Hunter; who wouldn’t even know it had been Bronson who had saved him from the mountain lion attack. Besides that, he was tired and surly. All he wanted was to forget that the mountain lions existed at all.
“Um…so what have you been up to?”
Hunter was looking intently at Bronson, and he couldn’t help but feel an uncomfortable pressure to perform. People expected Alphas to act a certain way all the time. They weren’t allowed to have bad days where they just wanted to sleep in and be weak and lazy for once. But sleep was all that Bronson could think about right now.
“Nothing much,” Bronson mumbled. How was he supposed to explain what he was doing? That he was protecting everybody in the town and trying to keep his pack alive? There was no way in hell that Hunter would be able to understand that.
“Same here. Listen, I—”
“What are you doing here?” Bronson interrupted. He felt edgy and impatient. Having Hunter so near him was taking his attention away from the patrol. Whenever he was there, all of his Alpha logic went out the window as his body responded to the sensual thrill of being so close to Hunter. It was bad for him and bad for the pack. He wouldn’t give in; not this time.
“If you hadn’t interrupted me, you would have heard me say that I came here to apologize,” Hunter said, a little curtly.
Bronson raised his eyebrow. Hunter was kind of sexy when he was annoyed. He was probably irresistible when he was really angry. The thought made Bronson instantly hard, and he inhaled sharply to try to keep himself from falling into the trap of lusting after Hunter. It was hard though; he already had experience to draw from. And that experience had been incredible.
“Apologize for what?” Bronson asked, his voice strained. “You didn’t hurt me. You couldn’t hurt me if you tried.”
Hunter’s face was turning red and his eyebrows were knitting together. He was making him mad now. But how would he react?
“Just because I’m smaller than you doesn’t mean I’m harmless,” Hunter cautioned, his eyes cold as steel. “And it was wrong of me to pull a gun on you without understanding the whole situation first.”
Bronson gritted his teeth, his shaft slowly filling with blood from the rush of his excitement. That was what he wanted to hear. He liked to see the boy stand his ground.
“It wouldn’t have been wrong of you if you’d understood the situation correctly,” Bronson countered, trying to ignore the heavy drumming of his heart. His arousal was hard to ignore. Soon it would be obvious to Hunter how he was feeling just by looking at his jeans. “So I don’t see any reason to apologize.”
“Fine, then. I don’t know why I bothered to come out here. I guess I just wanted to thank you for—” Hunter cut himself off abruptly and it piqued Bronson’s curiosity.
“For what?”
Hunter shook his head. “Nothing… It wasn’t you. I just… Something happened the other day and I… never mind.”
Bronson’s dark eyes glittered and held Hunter in place before he had a chance to turn away.
“You’ve got nothing to thank me for, boy. I might not be personally responsible for the pain in your life, but you’re right. I’ve done nothing to stop it. And if you don’t get out of here now, I’m going to make it a whole lot worse.” His voice was thick with arousal, nearly a growl at this point.
Hunter’s chin lifted defiantly, and Bronson nearly groaned out loud as a surge of desire caused his cock to throb hard against his leg. The boy really knew what he was doing. He pushed all of Bronson’s buttons in al
l the right ways, and he was feeling far too tired to hold himself back, to resist the urge to dominate Hunter.
“You can’t mess with my life unless I give you the power to,” Hunter said, his eyes finally wandering to the obvious bulge of Bronson’s erection. He swallowed hard as his face flushed red and a smile curved his lips. “So, I guess I’m just going to have to invite you to do your worst.”
Chapter 17
Hunter’s breath caught in his throat when Bronson’s eyes flashed at him. So he hadn’t been imagining it before; the man’s eyes really did change color when he was aroused. Hunter felt like he should be afraid, but instead of feeling scared, it brought the blood rushing to his groin and he groaned when Bronson’s hands curled around his shoulders, just from that simple touch. He hadn’t realized just how strongly he’d been craving physical contact with this strong, virile man.
Bronson’s face hovered inches away from Hunter’s, and they stared each other down for a few hard thuds of Hunter’s heart. Finally, Bronson’s lips connected with Hunter’s, and they kissed roughly, passionately, Bronson’s stubble scraping roughly against the smooth skin of Hunter’s face. Hunter lost track of all his thoughts. Everything that usually held him back disappeared as he became consumed by the hot fire that was slowly making its way through his entire body.
He clawed at Bronson, peeling off his shirt to reveal his muscular torso. Hunter ran his hands along it, closing his eyes to savor every sensation of Bronson’s rippling muscles and the firm, rough thrusting of his hips against Hunter’s pelvis. He was surprised when his hands ran over the risen mounds on Bronson’s chest, and he opened his eyes. Bronson was injured; he had puncture marks in his neck and long, jagged cuts along his shoulders and down his chest. He looked like he’d been mauled by a wild animal.
Hunter’s mind flashed back to the black wolf, to the gratitude he’d wanted to bestow on Bronson for what the wolf had done, as if his mind sensed Bronson and the wolf were the same. Which was nonsense, of course.
Before he could say anything about it, Bronson’s mouth made its way to Hunter’s neck, where he growled as he clamped down. Any words Hunter was about to speak disappeared in a gasp of ecstasy as Bronson’s strong hands pushed the fabric of Hunter’s pants away, leaving his cock standing tall.
He expected Bronson to whip him around and take all of his sexual frustrations out right away, but Hunter was surprised when Bronson dropped to his knees and the head of his cock disappeared into the stubbled mouth. Bliss surged up his abdomen and Hunter doubled over, crying out softly as little by little, the rest of his engorged shaft disappeared into Bronson’s mouth.
The man was taking his time with him, the way Hunter imagined a heterosexual man might need to warm up a woman before going inside of her. But Hunter didn’t need that kind of foreplay. He was looking far more forward to the main event.
Still, Bronson’s hot tongue flickering along the sensitive head of his cock was almost too much to handle. He hadn’t had good head in a long time. Tyler was sloppy at it and preferred to get right down to business, so Hunter let himself enjoy it until he felt like he was about to cum.
That was the precise moment when Bronson decided to stop, and pulled the heat of his mouth away, leaving Hunter’s damp cock cold in the breeze beneath the trees. He was about to protest when he saw Bronson’s engorged member. He hadn’t even noticed Bronson strip himself, and the surprise sight was kind of a shock to his system. But he liked it, and moved swiftly toward Bronson.
Bronson’s sexy voice came out in a low groan when Hunter grabbed his cock and gave it a long, firm stroke. Hunter lowered himself slowly onto the ground, dropping on all fours and taking Bronson’s thick shaft between his lips. The man was huge, and Hunter relished in the taste of his cock, slowly sliding his lips up and down Bronson’s shaft and taking in the sensation of every vein.
Bronson shuddered and pushed Hunter away. At first, Hunter was irritated and offended by it, but when he looked up to protest, the look in Bronson’s eyes silenced him. The man was ready to go full force.
He stepped over Hunter, who was still on all fours on the ground, and positioned himself behind him. Hunter groaned when he felt Bronson’s hot, wet shaft against the crack of his ass, and they writhed together for a few moments before Bronson slowly began to push himself inside.
Feeling Bronson inside of him made Hunter’s cock harder than it had ever been before. When he glanced down at it, it was beet-red and dragging against the grass, every tiny touch an electrifying sensation that nearly made him scream with pleasure. But he was a modest man, and bit his lip, only grunting occasionally when he couldn’t contain the pleasure he felt.
When Bronson finally finished pushing the entire length of his shaft inside of Hunter, he spoke. Hunter could almost hear the cocky smile in his voice.
“You ready for me, boy?”
Chapter 18
Bronson’s body was electrified, and he could feel every little contraction of Hunter’s body as its hot folds enveloped every inch of his cock. He waited to hear some confirmation from Hunter, expecting it to be meek, but the man surprised him by craning his neck and raising his eyebrow. A silent way of saying, “What are you waiting for?”
It filled Bronson with a desperate longing for release, and he gripped Hunter’s waist firmly in his strong hands, steadying him and letting his longing reach fever-pitch. They were still for a moment, with Bronson’s cock nuzzled deeply inside of Hunter’s ass, every tiny movement from either one of them sending pleasure through Bronson.
Finally, Hunter’s body began to tremble, and Bronson took it as a sign that he was truly ready. All the blood in his body seemed to flow to his massive shaft, swelling it beyond anything he’d ever experienced before. Something about this man brought out the beast in him. He was channeling the wolf right now; he knew it from the way his body was tingling from the inside out. If Hunter could handle him at his strongest, he was a worthy mate.
The idea of filling this sweet, kind, gentle man with his seed filled Bronson with a deep, unquenchable desire. He inhaled slowly, surprised by his shuddering breath. He had never felt so close to losing all of his control before. Before he was able to stop himself, he thrust powerfully, with all of his might, sending a shockwave of pleasure up his own shaft. They both grunted in pleasure at the same time, and Hunter began to move his hips, begging for more.
Bronson’s cock nearly exploded inside of him, taking on a life of its own as it sought its pleasure within the safety of Hunter’s walls. It tingled with bliss as, again and again, Bronson thrust powerfully inside Hunter. Hunter clenched his hands in the grass, moaning, but Bronson could tell that he was still holding something back. He wanted to take Hunter to the edge of his bliss and back again. But he would have to be careful. If he was too loud, it would attract unwanted attention. He would have to save it for a better time and place.
He ran his hand down the smooth, lean muscles in Hunter’s back and gave in as much as he dared. Luckily he was still exhausted, and his performance wasn’t nearly as powerful as it could have been.
Still, Hunter was on the brink of climax, again and again. Bronson could tell from the way his cock was grinding against the grass and leaving wet strands of precum dangling from his cock. The sight was enough to send a rush of ecstasy through Bronson’s body, and he gripped Hunter’s swollen red shaft and began pumping it wildly with his fist as his orgasm began to bubble in his abdomen. He sank his teeth down again into Hunter’s neck, and the unexpectedly pleasurable sensation brought a cry of pleasure from Hunter’s lips. He felt Hunter’s cock tense up in his hand and allowed himself to unleash the powerful torrent of his own climax inside of him.
Hunter’s low groans of rapture enhanced the power of his orgasm, and stream after stream of cum filled Hunter deep inside as Bronson’s hand filled with his own hot, white substance.
Bronson collapsed onto the ground panting, and by the time Hunter had turned around to face him, he was asleep.
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Chapter 19
Hunter looked down at Bronson, whose muscular chest was rising and falling as he dozed peacefully on the ground. What kind of man could fall asleep like that so suddenly right in the middle of the forest floor? It made him smile in wonder at the big man he had come to look forward to seeing, even after everything that had happened with Tyler.
He would just have to accept that he was developing feelings for this surprisingly sweet man. A gentle giant, Hunter decided. He swept some of Bronson’s dark hair out of his face, and considered whether or not it would be all right for him to kiss his forehead, or if the man would wake up swinging. The thought nearly made him laugh.
“There he is,” a high-pitched, gravelly voice said suddenly. Hunter’s heart jumped to his throat and he scrambled to cover himself up.
“So he’s finally taken the mate,” another equally sinister voice whispered.
“Do you think they know?”
“What does it matter?” a third voice responded. “It’s happened, hasn’t it? We must take care of it.”
“We must,” the other two voices agreed.
Hunter gritted his teeth as he pulled his shorts on and shook Bronson’s shoulder frantically.
“Wake up,” he breathed. “I think we’re in trouble.”
“You take the Alpha. I’ll go after the other…”
“Yesss, get the other.”
“Fuck, Bronson. We need help. Wake up!”
Hunter shocked himself by punching Bronson in the wound on his chest. He yelped and stood up with his fists balled, ready to fight.
“Oh, shit!” he cried. He looked down at Hunter, who was huddled against the trunk of the tree behind him. “Whatever you do, don’t run. I’ll protect you.”
Hunter nodded dumbly, fear racing through his heart as one by one, three mountain lions leapt from the foliage and surrounded Bronson and Hunter. But how could he have heard mountain lions conspiring to kill them? Mountain lions didn’t talk. And what had happened that he should know about? That they needed to take care of?