by Joyee Flynn
“J-Just nervous, I guess,” he whispered, not looking at me. “Plus, I’m not sure I can mate someone who shrugs about mating me as if he was picking what color shirt to wear.”
“This was your idea, Ant,” I replied, rubbing my hands over my face in frustration. I took a deep breath and tried to control my annoyance before I made things worse. And people wondered why I rarely left my house! But he’s been abused before, I reminded myself. “We’re going to have to cut each other some slack after the curveball we’ve been throw today, okay?”
“Right, right, good point. Fair enough.” He nodded as he pulled his shirt off. Ant had light skin that almost looked like perfect porcelain in the moonlight shining into the library. He quickly shucked the rest of his clothes, staring up at me with questioning eyes as he stood there naked. “Yes?”
“Yes, I like,” I whispered as I pulled him into my arms. I gave him a quick kiss before pushing him back onto the couch, picked up the lube he’d discarded, and handed it to him. “We don’t have much time, Ant. If we aren’t compatible, we’ll have to find someone else. So stretch yourself out well.”
“Yeah, because you’re fucking hung,” Ant replied, swallowing nervously as he eyed over my erection. “Lots and lots of lube needed to take you.”
“Well get to it.” I chuckled as I knelt between his legs. I didn’t normally worry about this part of sex. If they wanted to be with me, they’d be ready to go, I figured. But under the circumstances, I could at least watch. It wasn’t like there was anything else to do right then. Ant slicked up his fingers with a liberal amount before pulling his legs up and pushing two fingers into his ass. “Niiiiiiiice.”
“Glad you like,” he gasped as he wiggled them about. “Does that mean at least you desire me sexually?”
“Yes, yes it does,” I groaned, shivering at the idea of sinking my cock in his tight ass. I found myself fixated on where his fingers were moving inside of himself. The way his hole sucked them in each time as the skin of his rosette stretched around them. It was hot!
“What do you do for a living, Gavin?” Ant asked, and I liked the way he said my name.
“Really? You want to talk right now?” I chuckled as my eyes never moved from his fingers. I was completely captivated by his body and the idea that it would be mine soon.
“Like you said, we don’t have much time here to make the most important decision of our lives. Figured we should start learning about each other.”
“I’m a software designer,” I answered since his request was logical. At least we could get some of the basics out of the way. “What about you?”
“I test video games for flaws.” Ant pushed in a third finger as my cock started leaking at the sight. I gave it a few good tugs to remind my body that the fun was coming soon, pun intended.
“Good fit then, don’t you think?”
“Yeah,” he gasped. “What do you like to do when you’re not working?”
“Read and watch movies mostly.” Ant’s body started to shake as his other hand held his leg so firmly his knuckles turned white.
“Me, too. I have a shitload of books on my Kindle and in paperback.”
“Me, too,” I replied with a smile. Already we had a bunch of common interests. I figured that had to be a good thing. “Where do you live?”
“I own a house outside Indianapolis,” he answered.
“I rent an apartment in Indianapolis,” I gasped. I was completely floored that we lived right by each other but had to come to Scotland to meet. He was almost ready for me, and I realized I was now staring at the pool of pre-cum on his stomach. I so wanted to lap it up like the cat I was.
“Since I own, would you be cool with moving in with me?”
“Do you have room for me?” I chuckled.
“Yeah, I make a good living. I have tons of companies wanting me to test their games.”
“Okay, I’m done talking,” I groaned as he slipped in a fourth finger easily. I pulled his hand away and put it on my cock to use the extra lube to slick me up. Ant gasped and stared up at me. I gave him a wink and moved into position. “I hope you like it hard and fast.”
“I used to,” he said softly, his cheeks heating up. “But then my ex-boyfriend started hitting me during sex. I think he got off on causing pain. I’ve not been with anyone since him, and we broke up almost thirty years ago.”
“Damn,” I groaned as I slid inside of him. That was a long fucking time to go without sex, and I chose to focus on that part of what he said since I had no clue what to say about the rest of it. “You must whack off constantly.”
“I like toys,” he hissed and arched his hips as I sunk home. “If this works, I’ll show you my collection.”
“I’d like that,” I growled as I stared down at where our bodies were joined. And then I almost smacked myself for being such a sentimental pussy. Why was I getting all mushy and watching what was going on instead of just fucking him into the couch? That wasn’t like me. I reached over and grabbed his hips before taking him slowly. “You okay?”
“Gods yes,” Ant squeaked. I wasn’t sure what was up with the squeaking, but I liked it. As his hole opened up for me, I started to pick up speed and ferocity.
“Touch yourself, Ant.” I grunted as I pounded into him. What the hell was up with me? I never cared if my partner got off. That was for them to worry about! I shook off the thought… chalking it up to the situation we were in to force a mating to happen.
He did ask I asked, stroking himself in time with my thrusts. I adored the cute little noises he made during sex and realized while I didn’t normally care if I got a repeat performance or not, I would with Ant.
“Gavin, Gavin, coming,” Ant whimpered second before he shot ropes of seed all over his stomach. I roared as his orgasm threw me into mine when his ass massaged my cock perfectly. I thrust into his tight grasp a few more times before snarling as I shot my load deep into him. And then I threw back my head and roared. Not so much from my orgasm, but from the possessiveness I was feeling toward Ant as my seed coated the inside of him.
“Yeah, I’ll keep you.” I gasped for air as my climax started to ebb.
“I’m so flattered.” He snickered as my cock slipped free. “You’re not a sweet-talker, are you?”
“No, you won’t get flowers and romance from me, Ant. Just not how lions are built.”
“Fine, but we’re sleeping in the same bed, and you’ll have to deal with me laying over all you.”
“I can handle that.” I chuckled, impressed he spoke up like that. “As long as you don’t snore.”
“Nope,” he replied with a wide smile as we stared at each other. “Are you asking me to mate with you, Mr. Ashby?”
“I guess I am,” I answered, leaning in to give him a quick kiss.
“I accept,” he whispered against my lips. And I was pretty happy about that. I never wanted to mate, and the idea of being forced to mate sat heavy with me. But if I was going to, Ant seemed like the best suited mate for me given the time constraints. I could deal with that, I guess.
Chapter 2
“How do you claim a lion?” Ant asked as he slid down off the couch and onto my lap. I stared at him for a moment, never having had a lover be so forward and just demand cuddle time after sex. “Gavin? Are you still with me?”
“Umm, yeah, it’s a dominance thing,” I answered, shaking my head to clear my thoughts. Ant was just so different than anyone I’d ever had sex with. And why would he want to sit in my lap? “You ever read or see lions in the wild? The male does some sniffing, and then the one he wants lays down and just offers themselves up. There is an ear nip which we’ll get an earring for later and that’s it.”
“Okay,” he whispered, looking nervous at being near a lion. I gave him a quick kiss before moving him off my lap and letting the change flow over me. Ant’s eyes went wide, and I realized if he’d never seen it before, how big of a shock this would be for him. I was big as a man, six-five and almost three hun
dred pounds of solid muscle. Hey, I might work at a computer all day long, but that’s no reason not to keep in shape at my home gym!
My blond hair grew out past my ears to become my mane as fur flowed freely. And my eyes, which were light brown, almost amber, changed into cat eyes.
“Holy shit, you’re beautiful,” Ant gasped, running his fingers over me. I let out a long purr, loving his attention before I snapped out of it. Giving him a soft growl, he seemed to remember what we were doing here. “Sorry, right, you’re dominating me. But next time I want to see and explore.”
He stood still as I moved around him and sniffed. My lion liked him. He wasn’t Alpha enough to try and challenge us for authority or power. I gave a loud roar that he pleased me as a potential mate. Damn! I’d forgotten to warn Ant about that, and he went so pale I thought he was going to faint. I quickly moved to nudge his hand, letting him know everything was okay.
“Yeah, a heads-up would have been nice before shattering my eardrums,” he mumbled as he dropped to his knees. If I could have laughed in lion form, I would have at his antics, but this was a serious ritual of my people. I moved one paw to gently push him onto his hands and knees, positioning myself over him when he had. I licked his neck when I felt him shivering. I wasn’t sure why he was so scared.
I mean, I know I was a huge six-hundred-pound lion, but he was a shifter. He should know that I knew what was going on and was completely sentient. And then a thought hit me. He smelled like prey. Just what type of shifter was the man I was going to mate? I leaned forward and gave him a quick nip on the ear. He let out a cute little squeak as our hearts and souls moved to synchronize.
“You have to lick my whiskers,” Ant said nervously a moment later as I nuzzled his neck. That was a strange mating ritual. No bite or fucking? No marking? Just licking whiskers? I started to shift back, and he let out a squeak and quickly shifted.
“Ant? Ant, where are you?” I asked in a panic after shifting back to human form. I couldn’t see my mate anywhere. Then I heard a loud squeak. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me! You’re a mouse?”
Squeak, squeak was all I got for a response. I opened my large hands on the floor, and Ant moved forward cautiously, sniffing me. When he finally crawled into my hands, I raised him up to my face and licked his right whiskers.
“Haven’t you heard the old story about the lion and the mouse, Ant?” I asked softly as I licked the other side. “The mouse gets eaten in the end, you know.”
He started shivering as the change vibrated through him. Suddenly, I had a man sitting in my hands. I braced his weight before I dropped him, settling him on my lap. “You can eat me anytime you want, big boy.”
“No wonder you squeak, you little flirt.” I chuckled but then got serious as I took his face in my hands. “Why didn’t you tell me you were a mouse?”
“Because you would have immediately rejected the idea of mating me if you knew what I was,” he whispered. “But then I was going to tell you after we had sex, and I got scared. And then you just shifted, so well, umm, yeah, things kinda went fast after that and my brain was reeling.”
“No more hiding things, Ant. I won’t have a sneaky mate who I can’t trust,” I said firmly. I was willing to let him off the hook this time since the way the night played out. But not again.
“I promise, Gavin.” He nodded and then kissed me. “We’re really mated now. I can feel it, can you?”
“Yeah, I can,” I answered as I pulled us to our feet. I handed him his clothes before quickly yanking on mine. “Let’s get registered with the council and get the hell out of here. I can hear the chaos around this place, and it’s driving me nuts.”
“Can someone still try and bite me and claim me before we get the mating seals?” Ant froze at the idea as I started walking to the door. “I don’t want someone else to just bite me, Gavin.”
Shit! He was completely right. With the ensuing clusterfuck going on in the castle how did I get him to the council without getting taken from me? Great! Just one more obstacle that the fucking elders threw at us. They were so off my Christmas card list for this shit!
“Do you trust me, Ant?” I asked as I took his hand in mine.
“Of course, you’re my mate.”
“I want you to jump up on my front and wrap as tightly as you can around me,” I replied as he did as I asked. It took me a second to get my body under control with his ass in perfect position for me to fuck again. Lions were some of the horniest animals in the animal kingdom. On top of that, paranormals were known for having high libidos as well. “Hang on and make yourself as small of a target as you can. We’re going to make a run for it.”
“What if someone bites you when you’re worried about me?” He squeaked out.
“As sad as it is to say, most big guys don’t get fucked with like you guys do,” I answered with a sigh. I hated that kind of shit in the world. “I’ll be fine and keep you safe, just hang on.”
Ant tucked his head in my neck as I wrapped my left arm around him. I walked through the door of the library into a quiet hallway. Maybe we were being silly and this would be no big deal?
Yeah, not so much! I got to the real action when we moved into the next hall leading to the ballroom. A few people stopped what they were doing and eyed my mate over like he was lunch. Oh, fuck that shit! Ant was mine!
I took off at top speed, glad I ran three miles a day. One dark-haired guy about my size came at us, and I punched him in the face before shoving him with my shoulder to get him out of the way. Then someone else pushed us from behind, and it took everything I had to stay on my feet. It was even worse when we got to the ballroom. I can’t even remember the faces of all the people I pushed, shoved, and hit to get through there.
It was like an insane football game where there were no rules, and the touchdown was getting my mate to the elders safely. Once I leapt up on the stage where the elders were all seated with a large book in front of them, I finally won.
“Gavin Ashby and Anthony Marino have mated,” I shouted amongst the noise. The elder nodded and wrote our names down in the Book of Mating. I pried Ant off of me right before we both cried out as the mating seals were magically tattooed on us.
“You mated a man?” My father roared. I instinctively pushed Ant behind me.
“Is that a problem, father?” I smirked, never having told him I was gay. “Did your little plan not go how you wanted? Oh and I’m leaving the pride to go live with my mate. So good luck getting the income I brought to the pride now.”
“You’re next to lead the pride,” he yelled, his teeth and claws extending.
“I don’t want it!” I snarled back as Ant shook behind me, his hands holding my hips. “I never did, but you don’t care about what I want. You wanted me to mate. You forced me to mate. Now deal with the fucking consequences because I don’t give a rat’s ass what you want!”
I didn’t give him time to answer, swooping Ant up into my arms and leaping off the stage.
“Wait, Gavin!” One of the elders shouted as he leapt off the stage after me. He handed me an envelope with the UPAC seal on it. “There are rules to this mating. You need to read that after you have sex with your mate.”
“Like I wouldn’t test out if we were compatible sexually before tying us together for eternity.” I looked at the guy like he was nuts. “I’ll read it on the plane. My mate and I are leaving this hellhole.”
I stormed off with a shaking Ant in my arms. What was he upset about? I was the one who just started World War III with my father and my pride. He didn’t say anything until we were in the cat’s wing of the castle. It was split up by communities when we came for this convention every leap year.
When we got back to my room, I lowered Ant to his feet and started to pack. Suddenly, I felt the air vibrate when a shifter went through the change. Sure enough, I looked and Ant’s clothes were in a pile on the floor.
“Ant, where are you? We don’t have time for this shit,” I said with
a sigh. I decided to ignore him. Whatever his issue was, he’d tell me eventually. And then I felt tiny claws crawling up inside my pant leg. “Fuck! That hurts, Ant!”
I heard a series of squeaks and froze. I understood them as if he’d been speaking human English. Oh this was a new fun development.
“Why can I understand mice squeaks, Ant?”
“Because you’re mated to one, you big dumb lion,” he replied in mouse form and bit my knee.
“Fucking cut that out! I’ll pack you in my suitcase if you don’t behave, Ant. Why are you pissed at me?”
“Did you mate me just to piss off your father? Don’t you think I deserved to know that he’d be pissed and might want to hurt me for being mated to you?”
“No, that’s not why I mated you,” I sighed and sat down on the bed. Part of me was annoyed at his childish antics. But then again, if I was a mouse fighting with a lion, I’d want to be a small target, too. The other part of me realized he was right. I should have told him.
“Look, I didn’t mate you to piss him off. Yes, I figured it would because he didn’t know I was even gay. But we talked about cutting each other some slack given the circumstances. I didn’t bite you when you didn’t tell me you were a mouse shifter, did I?”
“No,” he squeaked quietly and crawled back out of my pants. I watched as he then moved over my shoe and back up to my lap on the outside of my jeans this time. He shifted back, naked in my lap, and tucked his hair behind his ear before looking up at me. “I’m sorry, Gavin.”
“It’s okay, we’ve all got our little quirks,” I replied, wondering where this sudden patience was coming from. I must really like Ant to not be pissed with him. “I can hear you when you squeak, and you bite me when you’re upset. Just promise no matter how pissed you are, you won’t bite my junk.”
“No way.” Ant giggled and slid off my lap. “Can’t risk doing damage to that which brought me such pleasure.”
“All right, then let’s get the hell out of Dodge,” I said with a nod. I went back to my packing, which took minutes since I’d not brought much. Ant got dressed again, and while I was disappointed that he was covering up his hot body, we couldn’t walk through the castle with him naked. I slung my bag over my shoulder, along with my laptop case, and followed Ant to his room.