Jericho Junction

by Marie Harte

  “No. I’ll do it.”

  Trust the stubborn bear to so easily accept the thought of commanding Seino. “Jericho, really, don’t—”

  The nasty grin on his face snared Seino’s lust between one heartbeat and the next. The wily bear wanted control, power, and a connection, even if he didn’t yet realise it. And everything inside Seino yearned for what the big bear would give him, despite not wanting a mate. There had to be some way he could fuck Jericho without forming a lasting attachment.

  “Come here. Maybe you can beg me to take it off later.” Jericho’s dark brown eyes glinted with what promised payback.

  “Let me assist you, Dark Walker.” Fel motioned with his hand and Seino was pulled forward with force. The old man held him in place with a bony hand.

  “Damn it, mage. Let go.” Seino struggled but couldn’t move. “We have an enemy to defeat. No time for this nonsense.”

  And then Jericho slipped the amulet over his head.

  Heat seared his chest when the amulet came in contact with his skin. His sword vibrated with need, and Jericho looked way too pleased with himself.

  “Damn the bones. You’ve cursed me, bear.”

  Jericho chuckled. “I think I like you, Master Fel.”

  Annoyed with his grandfather, but more, with the bear he now had no choice but to claim, Seino snarled, “You want me? You now have me. Catch.” He tossed his sword to the bear, not surprised when Jericho not only caught it, but swung it around without a problem. Only a blood relative or mate could wield another’s blade without having his soul ripped away and devoured by the demon bone. So much for sex without the entanglement.

  Jericho nodded. “Nice weapon.” He turned to Fel. “Well, Master Fel? My name? What does it mean?”

  “All in good time, Jericho.” Seino’s grandfather cackled, threw the remaining two—two?—amulets at Seino, then disappeared with a warning. “Two days, Seino. Then return to the place of the bear’s birth. It’s there you’ll find the last part of the puzzle, and the key to the answers you seek.”

  Jericho frowned at Fel’s departure.

  Seino caught the amulets in one hand. “Happy now?” Without asking, he snapped the fingers of his other hand and watched one of the necklaces settle around the bear’s neck as if it belonged there. He pocketed the other, not even wanting to know what he would be forced to do with it.

  “Hell. You had to collar me with it, didn’t you?”

  “An appropriate description.” Seino liked the look of the bear wearing his amulet, even though he didn’t exactly want the mating.

  “This thing is warm.” Jericho studied it. “What’s with the symbol? Kind of resembles a bear crossed with a dark fae.” He glanced up at Seino’s exposed ear. “Or a Kin, I guess.”

  “Smarter than you look, aren’t you?”

  “Hey, don’t get snippy with me because I managed to outwit you, hotshot. Ready to beg yet?” The smug expression on the bear’s face was Seino’s undoing.

  He reached out and mentally commanded his sword to return. Then he grabbed Jericho by the hand and teleported them into his favourite spot in the forest. A flat area he often napped upon. A place where he would bring lovers and let them satisfy him, if they tried hard enough.

  The place where Jericho would learn what it meant to belong to a Protector.

  Jericho blinked at Seino, not sure what to think. The demon’s skin was still ink dark, yet here, in this place, he seemed perfectly normal. Jericho didn’t understand what the hell had just happened, but his chest burned, as if something seethed inside him.

  “Oh shit. Am I possessed?” The amulet wouldn’t come off. And the one on Seino’s chest sat perfectly, not moving at all either. Magnetised to his skin, were that possible.

  Seino laughed at the question. “Possessed? Not yet. But you’re going to be.” The demon stripped down to nothing, pretty as you please.

  Jericho couldn’t breathe. He’d never looked at a male and seen him the way he now saw Seino. With carnal need. Has to be the amulet.

  “What did you do to me?”

  “Ah, I think the question is, what did you do to me?” Seino walked forward, and Jericho realised they no longer stood in the same place as before.

  Around them, the woodline and vegetation looked slightly different, covered in red. Like the colour of Seino’s eyes. His bare feet matted soft green grass, and there were stakes in the ground attached to chains. And manacles.

  “Why are you naked? Why are we here? What the hell, man?”

  “Tsk, tsk. Come, Jericho. Time to play with your new master.”

  Jericho stood flummoxed, not having anticipated any of this. “Wait. What?”

  Before he could argue the point, Seino touched him again. Jericho blinked to find himself on his knees, naked, his ankles locked to the chains staked into the ground. His arms up and spread, attached to manacles chained to the trees. To the trees? Naked?

  “Spread those knees a bit more. Good. Let’s give me nice access to that cock.”

  To Jericho’s mortification, he was harder than steel. His balls felt heavy, his shaft thick. The pre-cum moistening his tip was there for a black-as-sin demon with fangs and a very hungry expression.

  “Look, Seino. This is way beyond anything I signed up for.” Jericho struggled but couldn’t break free from his bonds. His nerves stretched tight, not due to fear, but to anticipation. And that made no sense at all.

  “I had no intention of making this permanent either. But you did put the amulet on me.”

  “I—What? Permanent?” Before Jericho could ask exactly what that meant, Seino moved behind him. Jericho tried to look over his shoulder but caught nothing more than Seino going down on his knees. “What the fuck are you doing back there?”

  “Not yet, Jericho. We’ll get to the fucking soon enough. Be patient.”

  “Dammit. That’s not what I—oh shit.”

  Jericho strained against the chains, shocked at how good Seino’s tongue felt swirling around his asshole. Seino pried his cheeks apart with cool hands, but that tongue felt like a blaze of red hot need as it licked his rim.

  Seino cupped his balls as he shoved his tongue farther into Jericho’s ass. Fuck if Jericho didn’t want to blow. His cock literally hurt, his arousal painful and sudden and right there.

  “Damn. Let me go,” he said on a breath, wishing he sounded surer of himself and less desperate to come.

  “So good. What a tight little hole,” Seino murmured and increased his grip on Jericho’s balls. “You’re big, aren’t you, bear?”

  Those magical fingers stroked and tugged, then crept up and around Jericho’s balls to his shaft. When Seino slid his fingers up to curl around his cock, Jericho couldn’t help groaning and thrusting forward, away from the tongue at his ass and into a grip he needed to be firmer. How the hell could he be so hard for a male, and a demon at that?

  “Not a demon. Kin. Athmae,” Seino corrected. ”Like you, Dark Walker.”

  Before Jericho could protest, Seino released him and circled around to his front. Then the large male kissed him, and the kiss was unlike anything he’d ever felt. The musky taste of himself aroused him. No fear of disease or nastiness, not on the sweet breath of a magical creature built to please. The foreign thoughts and suggestions swirled in his mind, and he knew Seino had somehow put them there.

  They connected more than physically, but mentally as well.

  Seino changed the angle of his kiss, pressing harder as his fangs nipped and his tongue surged while he shoved into Jericho’s belly.

  “That’s right. I’m big and getting bigger. And I’m going to fuck you thoroughly.” Seino groaned and trailed kisses down Jericho’s body, lingering on his nipples. “This fur is soft, not coarse as I suspected.”

  Jericho could barely breathe, caught in a lust that threatened to rip open his heart. “D-damn it. Stop playing. Let me go. And it’s chest hair, not fur.”

  He gripped his restraints hard but couldn’t get f
ree. And then he didn’t want to when Seino continued to kiss his way down past Jericho’s breastbone, his navel, and through the thatch of hair covering his groin.

  Liquid heat surrounded him as Seino took his shaft down his throat, bent low, his ass in the air. Those perfect black globes, muscular and parting, exposing that place Jericho desperately needed to be.

  Male, female. Shifter or athmae, he wanted Seino. And he wanted him now. “Need to fuck. By the Bear, swallow me.”

  But the bastard let him go and stood with a smirk on his face. “You thought you collared me, didn’t you, Jericho?” Seino caressed his cheek, his hair, and skated a finger along the upper curve of Jericho’s ear with a touch that shockingly aroused Jericho even more. The athmae shifted, and his cock brushed Jericho’s cheek.

  “You ready to beg yet, my bear?” Seino laughed, the sound of arousal heavy in his mirth. As if he laughed at himself as well.

  “Never…beg.” But Jericho was fucking close, and they both knew it. He needed to come. His cock ached and his balls hurt, hugging his body while he readied to shoot. To his astonishment, the scent of Seino in need made his mouth water. The male’s cock and balls smelt like heaven.

  “Would you like a taste? What is it the humans say? Some sugar for my honey bear?”

  “Fuck you.”

  Seino laughed again, but an edge coloured his tone. He gripped Jericho’s hair hard, the pain exacerbating Jericho’s need to be taken. Owned. The foreign sensation of belonging spiked his breath, and without thinking about it, he opened his mouth.

  Seino didn’t wait. He shoved his cock between Jericho’s lips, gagging him on it. So big and thick, the black shaft pushed and hit his throat with each thrust of Seino’s hard body. “Oh yes. That’s it. So good. Jericho.”

  Hearing Seino moan his name, his pleasure, stole every ounce of Jericho’s discomfort. As if magic eased his way, he no longer gagged and instead accepted that monster cock down his throat. The scent of male musk and sex filled his mind, and he closed his eyes, awash in the feel of this male over him, in him. The grip on his hair eased, and Seino stroked his scalp with sharp nails as he fucked his mouth.

  “By Banathmae, yes. Yes,” the Kin hissed and jetted down Jericho’s throat.

  The spill became too much to swallow in one mouthful. But before Jericho could finish, Seino disappeared.

  “What…”

  And reappeared behind him. Something hot and wet prodded his anus, and then the demon entered him in one swift thrust.

  He shouted at the painful pleasure that shouldn’t have been so good. Instead of feeling split in two by that huge cock, the slick glide of entry heated him from his balls to his toes.

  “That’s it. Take my magic,” Seino murmured in a throaty whisper and plunged deeper. “And take my bite.”

  Fangs pierced Jericho’s neck, and he shouted and jerked, grinding back into Seino and seating that cock farther up his ass. A shock of sensation seized his heart, but what a way to go. Pleasure spiralled throughout his body. He came hard as Seino continued to fuck his ass.

  “More, Jericho. Give me more.” Seino licked his neck and bit him again, not as hard, but the end result was just as powerful.

  Ecstasy rushed through him, and he emptied once more while Seino rode him to another climax.

  They remained joined. Seino gripped his hips and pumped, and Jericho’s cock finally flagged as the last jolts of cum trickled to the ground.

  His heart racing, Jericho did his best to recover but couldn’t catch his breath.

  When Seino slowly withdrew, the burning sensation returned. “Easy. I have you.”

  He sagged in his chains. Seino muttered something under his breath, and they disappeared. In seconds, Jericho laid on the ground in Seino’s arms. Lying on top of him.

  “I never… I don’t… I can’t…”

  “Shh. Relax. My venom can be quite powerful.” Seino shifted under him, and Jericho realised the Kin had another erection. “Don’t worry. That’s yours. Just as soon as you’re up for more.”

  “But how?”

  Seino chuckled. “Nature is a mystery, isn’t she? Our amulets are telling. But if you weren’t part Kin, this wouldn’t be happening.”

  Jericho lifted his head, dizzy and confused. “Part Kin?”

  “Dark Walker. That’s one of the breed of Kin rumoured to have existed down here for eons. You shifters consider yourselves to be part man. But we Kin have more in common than a shared world with the Dark Walkers. Your heritage is a gift from Banathmae.”

  “The Bear in the Cave,” Jericho said with difficulty, wondering if he dreamed, or if he was, in fact, awake. He’d never come so hard, and never with a male not even of his species. But then, according to Seino, they were both Kin.

  “One and the same. It’s okay, Jericho. Rest. I’ll still be here for you to argue with when you wake.”

  Jericho wanted to tell him to go fuck himself, and the Kin laughed as if reading his mind and hugged him tight. Seino acted like a huge, lumbering bear on his chest weighed no more than a feather. Disgruntled yet oddly content, Jericho fell asleep.

  Chapter Four

  Seino woke to the sight of Jericho glaring down at him.

  “I want to know exactly what you did to me yesterday.” At Seino’s sly grin, the bear amended through gritted teeth, “Aside from the sex. I feel connected to you.” Jericho rubbed his chest. “This thing hums against my breastbone. And I can’t take it off. I can’t shift if I can’t take this off. It’ll strangle me,” he practically growled.

  Understanding his concern, Seino sat up and stretched. “Shift.”

  “You want to kill me?” Jericho sat on his haunches, a surprised look on his face.

  “I want to fuck you again. And again. But first you need to see you’re not a prisoner.”

  Jericho narrowed his eyes and stood. Slowly, a blur of light spread out from his chest to encompass his body. In seconds, a huge, brown grizzly bear stood in his place, the amulet no longer visible, but absorbed into his animal energy. The bear reared up on two legs, snarled at Seino, then dropped to all four feet and shoved his muzzle in Seino’s chest. Jericho knocked him back on his ass.

  “Oomph. Bastard.” Seino tensed when the bear clamped powerful jaws around his neck. A slight squeeze and Jericho would crush Seino’s larynx. The dangerous position had the odd effect of ramping Seino’s libido. He’d wanted Jericho before, but knowing how lethal his lover could be aroused a part of him he’d never known existed. Finding a partner who wasn’t afraid or in awe of his status as Protector of the Seventh Kingdom was near impossible. Seino had never been drawn to sexual partners outside of his own kind, so to be so drawn to Jericho told him something. Then to find the bear so sexy, so fuckable… It was obvious he had some Kin in him.

  Amused at the naughty part of that thought—because not long ago, Jericho had indeed had some Kin in him—he smiled.

  The bear over him grunted and moved back. Then he settled that massive bulk over Seino.

  Seino huffed out a breath. “Jericho, don’t—”

  But before Seino could finish his protest, Jericho shifted back into a man’s form and kissed him. He ground his hard cock into Seino’s belly, and Seino answered by wrapping his arms around Jericho’s shoulders.

  The bear trailed a kiss to his ear and licked the pointed tip, driving Seino mad. The sensitive shell was a hot spot, as his bear had just learned.

  “I don’t know why, but I want you,” Jericho confessed. “You’re arrogant, powerful, and a friggin’ demon.”

  “Kin,” he murmured and arched under Jericho’s talented tongue.

  “But I want you. I don’t give a fuck if it’s because of magic or not. This is one spell that might just backfire on you.” He chuckled and nudged Seino’s legs apart. “You’re not black anymore. And that white skin is just as pretty, so pale against mine. But those eyes are still blood red.”

  “So much conversation when we could be doing so much more. I th
ought you were eager for me, bear.”

  Jericho grinned. “You want it to hurt? I’m dry, Lord Impatient. And hard as a rock. But I’m game.” Jericho tilted Seino’s ass up, so Seino hurriedly released a spell.

  “Oh, yeah. That’s fuckin’ good.” Jericho groaned as warm liquid washed over his cock, courtesy of Kin magic. He didn’t waste any time and pushed himself towards Seino’s hole.

  “Do it.” Seino braced himself for the pain, needing it.

  He received so much more when Jericho took him.

  Hard, rough, and thorough. The large male stared down into his eyes while he overpowered and conquered Seino completely. He stuffed that fat cock deep, then rocked back out, fucking with rhythmic thrusts that made Jericho’s eyes darken with hunger. He kissed Seino again, his tongue surging in time with his shaft.

  The friction of Jericho’s belly alongside Seino’s shaft was painfully enjoyable. No respite, as the bear continued to pump hard.

  Seino didn’t want to, but he couldn’t contain his desire. “I’m going to release. You feel so good, I can’t stop.”

  “Do it,” Jericho ordered, his voice a primal growl of dominance. “Come all over us.”

  Seino jerked and came hard, his ass clenching around Jericho as he continued to climax, his pleasure tenfold.

  Jericho swore and shuddered, his muscles taut, his eyes closed. He didn’t stop until he’d given Seino an assful. The bear remained buried inside him, still hard and thick.

  “So damn good. I don’t know what it is about you, but you’re fucking sexy as hell.” Jericho sounded almost pained making the admission.

  “As are you. I love your chest, those firm muscles, the dark hair covering such tender bits.” Seino reached between them to pinch his nipples.

  Jericho hissed and ground against him. “I’m horny. Got another hard-on I shouldn’t possibly have after just coming.”

  “It’s your Kin coming out to play.”

  “Shit. I was hoping you’d made that up, the part about me being like you.” Jericho started fucking him again, in and out, the slow glide of his penetration a hellish torment. “So the Bear in the Cave is really Banathmae?”