by Odessa Lynne
Kem murmured something Devon couldn’t make out and then collapsed over him. Devon didn’t want to move. He yawned and stared toward the tall row of windows in the room looking out at a forest of trees. He patted Kem’s shoulder. “I need to get up,” he said.
Kem eased over to the side and wrapped his arm around Devon’s waist. “Don’t go.”
“I’m just going to the bathroom.”
“I missed you,” Kem said, rubbing his face against Devon’s back. “I missed you so much more than I expected.”
Devon tried not to enjoy the warmth unfurling in his chest. “I don’t know how you could miss me, we don’t even know each other.”
“You came back even after I hurt you. You wouldn’t have if you didn’t trust me to care for you.”
“I never thought you meant to do that.”
Kem pressed warm lips to Devon’s neck, near the healing skin. “That’s why I believe you must have some care for me.”
Devon sighed. He wasn’t one to shy away from declarations of love, but for some reason he hesitated. “I’m scared,” he said and he meant it but he couldn’t believe he’d let the thought out.
Kem stilled. He moved his head back and turned Devon over so that their gazes met.
“You have nothing to be afraid of.” Kem dragged his nose along Devon’s collarbone. “You’ve submitted. I smell it on you now, so crisp and clear. Enthralling.”
“You’re going to break my goddamn heart,” Devon said, “and I don’t deserve it.”
“I would never do such a thing.”
“It’s going to happen. Shit up out of luck on that one,” Devon said. “Trust me. Heat season ends and that’s it. You’ve got seventeen kids. Did you even like guys before you—before heat season and Earth or was that something that just showed up when our scent started messing with your head?”
Kem’s brow lowered and a frown creased his forehead. He traced Devon’s jaw with his finger and then trailed along the scar on his chin. “I’ve always preferred male partners, but breeding is breeding. It’s necessary.”
“What about the alpha?”
“Are you concerned for your friend?”
“Yeah. Sure. Of course.”
“Alpha has never expressed a preference one way or another as far as I know but if that bothers your friend, then that’s for him and Alpha to work out.”
“I can’t help wondering. That’s all. If the human scent trigger is so powerful that it makes you completely irrational and insane with lust then how the hell am I supposed to trust that your desire to mate me isn’t just a part of that?”
“The desire the mate and the desire to mate aren’t the same thing at all,” Kem said, his frown deepening.
“You don’t even notice, do you?” Devon said, raising up on his elbow. “You say shit like that all the time and it makes no sense.” His voice went rough and loud at the end. “Your advanced learning technology is a piece of shit, by the way, because I can never understand what you’re trying to say to me when you start talking about mating and fucking and mating. They all mean about the same thing to me so I don’t know what you mean when you say it.”
Kem put his finger over Devon’s mouth, shushing him. “Then I’ll find other words,” he said. “When I say I want to mate you, it means I want to love you, or…” He hesitated. “Be only with you, fuck—have sex, only with you. Share my life, only with you. Share my possessions and my status, only with you.”
“God. That makes it sound like you want to marry me.”
Kem stared at him. “Mates don’t part except on death. Human marriage is too casual to compare.”
“Marriage is a big deal to a lot of people, still. Some of them don’t part until death.” Brendan’s parents were still married. Devon didn’t know anyone else who was so he’d exaggerated but he was trying to make a point.
“You are my life.”
“You’re out of your mind.”
“With lust, for you.”
“That’s really not that funny,” Devon said and he flopped back on the bed.
“No, it wasn’t. Not considering how sensitive you seem to be to the subject. I hadn’t realized you would worry over something so—”
“Important?”
“Trivial.”
Devon couldn’t let that go. He pushed up on his elbow again. “Trivial? This shit is ‘the rest of my life’ shit. I don’t know how that can be trivial.”
“You could someday be the mate of the First Alpha,” Kem said. As if that should somehow make the whole thing easier for Devon to deal with.
But—
“At least if you people start turning us all into sex slaves like Brendan keeps saying is going to eventually happen, I’ll already have a master.”
Kem’s lips pulled back in a grin, the points of his sharp teeth just visible. “Humans have vivid imaginations that stray from reality more often than not. We’ve never intended to take your world from you. We’re grateful we haven’t been asked to leave by the majority of your citizens.”
“The governments you mean, because they’re scared to death of all that advanced technology you’ve got. Don’t think for a minute they wouldn’t ask you to leave if you had arrived with less than you have or if you were little green men without your amazing strength and healing abilities that makes killing you damn hard.”
“Traesikeille is aware of that. We all are. But that doesn’t make any difference to us. The universe sent us here and here we’ll stay. We’ve done our best to stop the damage the unexpected conflict between human scent and our heat has caused. We’ve tried to contribute to the advancement of your society.”
“You’ve saved a lot of lives, and you saved mine.”
“Twice.”
Devon raised his eyebrows. “You don’t get to take credit for the second time.”
Kem’s hand curved gently around Devon’s neck. “You’re right. I don’t.”
Devon sighed. He sat up, wincing as he did. He would’ve liked to have asked about the prophesy he’d heard mentioned but now probably wasn’t the best time.
Kem caressed his arm. “Go the bathroom and come back and rest. The cycles will come closer together as the end nears.”
“We have to talk soon. I don’t have a lot of time to get Gran her money.”
“We’ll talk, but not yet. Do you need my help?”
“What? To go to the bathroom? You’re kidding.”
“It’s my job to care for you after I mate you.”
Devon pushed off the side of the bed. “I just want to go to the bathroom, take a quick shower, and then go to sleep. I’m exhausted.”
“I’ll help you. Then we’ll sleep until you wake up and I’ll feed you.”
“Shit.” Devon gave Kem a disgruntled look and then walked to the room’s simple bathroom, Kem trailing behind him.
He needed to figure out a way out of having Kem feed him. It was one cultural difference Devon wasn’t ever going to appreciate.
Chapter 26
Devon woke to a room full of sunshine and a new day. He hadn’t expected to sleep so long the second time, but after the nap yesterday and his futile effort to get Kem to stop trying to shove food into his mouth every time he parted his lips, Kem had gotten increasingly anxious to fuck again and Devon had pushed away the food in favor of going to his hands and knees and encouraging Kem to give him more of what he liked best.
Best sex he’d ever had, without a doubt.
He stretched and felt the pull of too many sore muscles. His back was almost as sore as his asshole. He’d be digging that jar of lube up here in a minute, but first…
He rolled over and a pillow smacked him in the chin.
“What the hell?”
“Wake up, sleepyhead.”
Devon jerked upright. “Ian.”
“We’ve got one hour. Maybe less. Craig’s not that happy I’m here and Third gave me that look he has that almost made me decide I don’t like you enough to go through him to
get to you.”
“Third? Who the hell is Third?”
Ian stared at him. “The guy that made you his heat mate? Third. I don’t know what you’re calling him.”
“Kem. He told me to call him Kem.”
Devon shoved the thin sheet aside that had been covering him from the waist down, hobbled off the bed, and went for the only chest of drawers in the room.
Yesterday, Kem had taken clothes from there for Devon to wear so Devon assumed he’d find something. He yanked open the top drawer. Nothing.
He went for the second, looking over his shoulder at Ian, taking in Ian’s sturdy shape, a couple inches shorter than Devon but with a similar build. He’d accepted their similarities in body shape a long time ago. Probably why Brendan had come onto Devon in the first place in the shit-hole bar where they’d met. Also why he had no problem borrowing Ian’s clothes whenever he needed something. At the moment, Ian was dressed in a t-shirt and jeans that looked too new to belong to him, with a thick brace around one wrist and his worn out boots on his feet, a matching pair to the ones Devon most often wore.
“What the hell does Third stand for?”
“He was the third wolf I saw when I got here.”
“So who was the second?”
“Second.”
Devon laughed, almost a guffaw. “You’re kidding me? That’s how you named them?”
Ian shrugged. “Seemed the best thing to do at the time.”
“Only you, Ian.”
“What?”
“Nothing.” Devon stepped into a pair of clean underwear he found and then pulled on a pair of Kem’s jeans, a near fit but not perfect.
He pulled a chair away from the wall and shoved it toward Ian, wincing when the legs screeched across the floor. As Ian stood there, Devon moved back to the bed and sat down on the edge, legs stretched out in front of him and hands wedged against the mattress.
“Are you okay? Really? I don’t know what the hell you were thinking to come after me.”
“I was thinking you’d lost your mind, Devon. That’s what I was thinking. What kind of a dumbass heads off into wolf territory at the start of heat season?”
Devon ignored the question. “I should’ve covered my trail better.”
Ian glared and Devon felt like an asshole.
He huffed out a breath of exasperation and shifted his weight to one foot and kicked the leg of the chair. The soft thud of his bare foot sent the chair scraping across the floor a few inches. “Gonna sit?”
“I’m still pissed. I don’t know if I want to if you’re not going to tell me what the hell was going on for you to take a bet like that. I know you’ve got us into some dumb shit before but this was stupider than usual even for you.”
“It’s complicated.”
“It’s not that damn complicated,” Ian said, raising his voice. He grabbed the chair and sat and then crossed his arms. “I want the story. Or I’ll sit here until Craig and Third come in and drag me out.”
“Who’s Craig? The alpha? You named him Craig but called the others Second and Third? I can’t believe you sometimes.”
Ian uncrossed his arms and slashed his hands through the air. “Oh, that’s—” But he stopped and took a breath, mouth pinched. “You are an asshole, Devon. I followed you because I knew Brendan had trouble brewing and I knew something was up but I hadn’t figured out what yet. I didn’t know he’d planted a tracker on me.”
“About that. I didn’t know.”
Ian shifted his ass on the seat. “I never thought you did.”
Devon nodded. Ian waited. Devon wasn’t sure if he wanted to break the silence.
“So,” he finally said, “the alpha. You at least enjoying yourself?”
“They’re not what I expected.”
“Yeah,” Devon said, thinking about how Kem had treated him from the beginning.
“It’s all the little details,” Ian said. “Craig’s demanding but … gentle. Hell, I don’t know how to describe it, but…”
“Yeah?”
“He says I’m his true mate. I’m still not exactly sure what that means but I think it’s important to him. He says it’s pretty rare to find a true mate during heat season. Or any time.”
Devon leaned forward. “What’s he say about it? How does he know that’s what you are?”
Ian looked at him, confusion in his gaze. “Just something about fate. I don’t know.”
“Goddammit.” Devon rubbed his palm over his thigh and released his breath in a harsh rush. “I need more information.”
Ian’s mouth parted but Devon continued before Ian could speak.
“Kem says we mated. Some wolf came in and watched and that’s all it took, apparently.”
Ian drew in a breath and held it for a second longer than necessary before he leaned over on his elbows to his knees and clenched his hands together. “Did you—uh—hands and knees?”
“Doggy style right up the ass,” Devon said, not feeling the need to curb his tongue with Ian.
Ian’s cheeks reddened.
Ah. Perfect. Devon enjoyed the moment. He did it out of spite more often than not, but Ian always had been easy to embarrass. Habit, he thought, from the days when he and Ian didn’t get along, more enemies than friends.
“That’ll do it,” Ian said. “At least that’s what Craig said. It’s a significant sign of submission or something.”
“So that’s all that’s to it to mate? They do it doggy style? Did you?”
“God, Devon, do you have to be such an ass?”
“I like being an ass. I also like taking it up the ass. How you liking that?”
“Fuck off, you asshole.”
“That’s right.” Devon jarred the chair leg with his foot again and Ian startled.
Ian kicked Devon’s calf. “Don’t make me kick your ass, Devon.”
“Like that’ll happen, even with all that fancy shit your grandad taught you.”
“Devon—” Ian sounded exasperated.
Devon relented and grinned. “Now I know you’re okay I’ve got to take my morning piss. When I come back you better still be here.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Ian said. “Craig said I’d have nearly an hour and you still haven’t answered my questions.”
Devon gave Ian a sour look, pushed off the bed, and went to the bathroom. While he was there, he let himself feel the shaky relief that came with knowing Ian really did look okay. The alpha—Craig—hadn’t misled him about that. Devon could let go of some of the guilt he’d been carrying around ever since he’d realized a wolf had Ian.
He pissed, then splashed cool water on his face and had a drink. Water dripped down his neck and onto his chest and he swiped it away as he walked back out into the room.
Ian had dragged his chair over to the small table under the window and was looking out at the woods beyond.
Devon sat across from him in the only other chair in the room, another straight-backed seat and he winced as his ass came into contact with the hard, too flat surface.
“I’m going to have goddamn hemorrhoids when this is over,” he said.
Ian’s eyes flickered with amusement. “I’ve been wondering what it’s going to be like after heat season ends.”
“Have you asked?”
“No. You?”
“No.”
“Craig didn’t mention that you were mated like that. I guess it means Third thinks you’re his true mate.” Ian’s comment seemed to be more of a question than a statement.
“That’s what he says. And quit calling him Third. It’s stupid as shit.”
Ian stared at him, eyes never wavering.
“Fine,” Devon said. “But don’t be surprised when I don’t remember who the hell you’re talking about. Kem is a much better name.”
“I used to know a boy named Kim. I made fun of him until he popped me in the nose one day.” Ian grinned, unrepentant. “I deserved it. I didn’t make fun of him much after that but I did let Grampa tea
ch me a thing or two about self-defense.”
“Not that sorry I never met him.”
“He would have liked you.”
“He would’ve told you to stay the hell away from me, the same way Brendan says he tried to stop you from being friends with him after he figured out Brendan wanted in your pants.”
Ian shrugged. “I still think he would’ve liked you. He didn’t like Brendan that much anyway, even before. He used to tell me Brendan was trouble, too hard-headed for his own good.”
“That’s the truth.”
“So tell me why you let him manipulate you into that bet with his guys?”
Devon scratched at the table top with his thumb. “You tell me how you got caught first.”
Ian’s chair creaked as he sat back, arm stretched out in front of him, hand resting as flat on the table as it could with that thick brace around his wrist. “I got off the trails, there were some wolves running free and they must have caught my scent, I heard them in time to start running before they could see me but they must have had a really good whiff of my scent because I couldn’t shake them. I tried to stop once and take a shot with my gun but one of them snapped a branch coming from a direction I wasn’t expecting and it scared the shit out of me. I lost the gun in the dark and took off again.”
Ian paused, and Devon exhaled roughly.
“They caught up with me and then Craig showed up. Scariest moment of my life. But he didn’t do anything but sniff me a lot and drag me back to the den.”
“So he was still on the drugs then, wasn’t he?”
“They were just about to wear off,” Ian said.
Then his expression changed and he grimaced, giving Devon an awkward, under the lashes glance.
“What?”
“Do you like Third?”
“Kem, dammit. And…yeah. I do.”
“The first night I was here, Third—uh, Craig made him do some stuff to me, put his hand on my dick, that kind of thing.”