Arren

by Caitlin Ricci

  “Does Leo know that you had sex with his son?” Arren demanded.

  Cole growled at his nerve. “No, I didn’t run to our alpha and tell him that I jacked off his son. Of course not. But if you think Leo will really care who does what to Arren, then you’re welcome to go tell him yourself. You’re jealous, I have no idea why, and it needs to stop. Your anger is misplaced.”

  “Why is everyone so into Arren all the time anyway? He’s nothing special. They wouldn’t even notice him if he wasn’t the alpha’s son.”

  Bastian sounded like a whiny child. Cole just shook his head. He didn’t have the time, or the energy, for this nonsense. “There’s no reason to be friends with him if this is how you really feel about him. I’ll get you transferred to the barracks today. And I think you should talk to the pack therapist about these issues, too.”

  “I don’t want to be moved. I just want people to stop kissing Arren’s ass all the time.”

  Cole thought Bastian was being petty and childish but, he reminded himself, dealing with the most annoying members of the pack was pretty much part of his job description. He had to listen to Bastian complain, and he was supposed to try to think up ways to help him with his problems, but Cole couldn’t really come up with a solution that would solve Bastian’s problems with Arren.

  “You can’t stay in his house with him when you don’t like him. Have you tried not being friends with him?” Cole asked. That was bound to work. “Or maybe you could even just talk to him and try to work this out.”

  Bastian rolled his eyes. “Arren is hard to talk to. He doesn’t listen and he thinks he’s never wrong, but I don’t want to go back to living in the barracks. He was gone for a whole year and I guess I just kind of liked it. Sure, it’s really Arren’s house, but for the last year it was all mine. And when he got back we talked and stuff, but now he’s back and I just want him gone again. I guess I’m mad at him for coming home. I thought I’d be so happy to see him again, but I’m really not. Like, I don’t really want to be around him right now at all.”

  Cole was trying so hard not to be irritated with him. “I’m going to move you. A little time apart may help you fix your friendship, but you two won’t be living together right now. You’ll need to talk to him again at some point, since he is the alpha’s son and neither of you are changing packs. I’m also not going to make up anything for why I’m moving you, so what you tell him now or in the future is up to you.”

  Bastian nodded and stepped back. He didn’t look happy about Cole’s decision. “Can I be moved tonight then?”

  If he wanted to leave that quickly, then Cole could certainly help him. “Sure. You can move into the barracks as soon as you want to. There’s always an empty bunk there.”

  “Thanks,” Bastian mumbled, then he shifted and was gone, leaving Cole very glad that his problems were much simpler than those two’s.

  When Arren joined him by the lake the next afternoon, he’d obviously been crying. “You’ve probably heard by now that Bastian hates me.”

  Cole had hoped not to continue to be a part of this conversation, but it seemed as if he was going to be anyway. “He doesn’t hate you.”

  “Yes, he does.”

  “He got used to you being gone, then lashed out when he had to share space again. That’s hardly the same thing as hating you.” Cole hoped he was being gentle enough that Arren would calm down. They had other things to focus on besides this drama between Arren and Bastian. Cole needed to get Arren mated off to someone, and fast, so that he could go back to focusing on the rest of his tasks with the pack.

  Arren pursed his lips. “He’s being ridiculous. I thought he was pissed about you and me hooking up. Of course he got used to living alone. I did too. That’s not a reason to be a jackass to me about it.”

  Cole hoped they were able to work out their friendship, but whether they could or not wasn’t his big concern at the moment. He had to get Arren mated. They were at the lake, and most of the pack was there either swimming or sunbathing in the afternoon sun. “Pick one,” Cole said, gesturing around them.

  Arren laughed and shook his head. “They’re not an ice cream flavor. You’ve been with a fair number of the guys in this pack, right? Well, I haven’t. So who do you think would be good for me?”

  “No one that I’d be interested in.” Cole liked submissive guys. Arren seemed to want someone to control him. What worked for Cole definitely wouldn’t be a guy for Arren.

  He nodded. “But then how about the guys you’ve talked to? Someone rougher than a guy you’d recommend for Bastian. Someone maybe even rougher than you.”

  Cole wanted to laugh at him. They’d barely done anything together, and Arren’s view of him was that he wasn’t enough to satisfy the coyote. “You don’t even know me. I can be much rougher than I have been with you so far.”

  Arren didn’t blink. “That’s nice, but we’re not talking about you. Unless you want to be considered? Mate to the alpha’s son has a few nice perks, I’m sure. Mainly me, but still, I’m a perk all the same.”

  Cole didn’t want to insult him, but he definitely wasn’t looking for a mate, now or anytime soon. Mating with someone was a complication he didn’t want. “Let’s work on finding you someone else.”

  “I had a feeling you were all bluff and no bite, but it still sucks to be proven right.”

  Cole tried not to let Arren’s jab get to him, but he felt annoyed at what Arren had said. So annoyed, in fact, that he was tempted to pick Arren up, throw him over his shoulder, and take him somewhere so he could show Arren just how rough he really wanted to be with him.

  Only this meeting wasn’t about him. They were there trying to find a mate for Arren. “What about a moose?”

  “No prey.”

  A moose was hardly prey, but Cole went on anyway. “What about birds, then?”

  Arren shook his head. “Big predators. Like mountain lions, bears. You know.” Arren shrugged. Cole looked at the shifters around them, each of them minding their own business and having no idea that they were being considered as a potential mate for Arren.

  “Most of the pack is prey or birds,” Cole realized out loud.

  Arren looked irritated as he nodded. “I know. That’s why I’ve always struggled to find anyone worth being with in this pack. They’re all either prey, or they treat me delicately because of who my dad is. Sometimes it would be nice to just be fucked. No worrying about if I’m ready or not or if I’m going to come first. I just have these fantasies about being absolutely used, and no one in this pack is going to give me that.”

  Cole licked his lips and tried not to let anyone know how hard he was from Arren’s words. “You want to be treated like a toy? Just some holes to fuck and use?”

  Arren gave him a slow nod. Cole wished that they were alone. He knew that Arren would never be his, but that didn’t stop Cole from wanting him right now.

  Cole got to his feet—he couldn’t do this anymore. Too much more of being this close to Arren and he was likely to fuck him right there in front of most of the pack. With how Arren was watching him, Cole knew he would probably love every second of it, too. “That’s enough for today.”

  “Bastian’s out of my place now. I can leave the door unlocked for you tonight,” Arren offered.

  “Don’t do that,” Cole growled as he forced himself to walk away.

  * * * *

  Arren had wanted Cole to come by his house that night, but he definitely hadn’t expected it. He was lonely, though, in his suddenly quiet house that felt far too empty without Bastian with him. Arren had tried talking to him after dinner, but he’d shifted and flown away. Now it was nearly midnight, and Arren was acutely aware of just how alone he really was. He apparently had no real friends in the pack—no one he could even talk to. He was close to a few of his siblings, but they weren’t in the pack, they were with their moms, and he didn’t feel like going to his dad’s to use the pack phone to call them righ
t now. He was the only one who had really grown up in Leo’s pack, the only one who had actually chosen to stay in it when Leo had annoyed his mom enough to make her leave.

  When someone knocked on his door at nearly one in the morning, he rushed over to answer it. Even if it had just been his dad there wanting to yell at him about something, Arren would have welcomed the company. Instead, it was Bastian.

  “I forgot one of my blankets,” he explained.

  “Okay.” Arren stepped back, giving him space to come inside. He wanted to hug him, to tell him that he was lonely and that he missed him. Instead Arren just stood there, silently watching someone who he had thought was his best friend move around his house.

  Bastian didn’t take long to get his blanket. In less than five minutes he was ready to leave again. He hesitated at the door though, his blanket tucked tightly in his arms. “Are you mad at me?”

  The truth was a bit more complicated than that. Arren slowly nodded. “You didn’t talk to me. And now you don’t want to be around me. Yeah, I’m mad.”

  “I was mad at you too. Then I realized that you didn’t actually do any of the things that I was mad at you for. But even though I really miss you, I still do think that I need to be out of here. You were gone for a year and things, they changed. I thought we could go right back to how we were before, but we can’t.”

  Arren thought so too. “Thanks for saying that. Maybe we could sit together at lunch tomorrow.”

  Bastian nodded. “Yeah. See you tomorrow.”

  He left, and Arren closed the door behind him. Then he gathered up his own thick blankets and curled up with them on his bed. He felt a little better after talking to Bastian, but he was still lonely. He hadn’t spent a night completely alone in a long time. He wasn’t even sure he knew how to be alone like that.

  The next morning he got himself to the kitchens on time and sat through making forty helpings of French toast. He was proud of himself for not complaining about it either. At least it was better than having to chop up bags and bags of onions for the French onion soup that would be part of dinner. Someone else had been given that task.

  At lunch he sat beside Bastian, but things felt off. Bastian had made friends quickly in the barracks. Arren had never been all that great at making friends. Bastian’s new friends were nice to Arren, but he saw the uncertainty behind their happiness. They seemed guarded around him, only talking about the weather and how good lunch was. Not a single one of them complained about anything having to do with the pack, and Arren understood why. He was Leo’s son, and they were worried about what he might say about them to his father.

  After a while he simply got up, put his plate in the bin to go back to the kitchen, and left. He didn’t last long at the house alone, though, and the lake was far too busy for his sour mood. He went looking for Cole instead, and found him in his house, stretched out on the couch and writing things down on complicated-looking charts.

  He stopped spying on Cole through the window and knocked on his door instead. Cole looked surprised to see him. “Can I hang out with you for a bit?” Arren asked.

  Cole’s eyebrows shot up. “What?”

  With a sigh, Arren pushed past Cole and sat down on the couch. “No one likes me.” He tucked his legs under himself and hoped he looked as sad as he felt so that Cole would take pity on him.

  “People like you,” Cole said. He sounded tired, not that Arren blamed him. He was sure he was coming across as a whiny brat right then, but he had to talk to someone.

  Arren just shook his head. “People kiss up to me and they tolerate me. But no one actually wants me around. They’re all scared of me. Or, at the very least, worried about what I’ll say to my dad. But you’re not.”

  Cole sat down on the couch beside him. “No, I’m not scared of what your dad thinks of me. And I also know that he doesn’t care about what anyone thinks of him, either. If you’re so worried about it, why not go spend time with your brothers in another pack for a while, like when you went to your mom’s? I’m sure they can relate to how you’re feeling now.”

  He was close to some of them, but not to the point that he would go complain to them about how isolated he was feeling. “It’s different for them. People say whatever they want to about my dad in other packs, and yeah, I’m his son still, but I’m not their alpha’s son. Does that make any sense?”

  “It does.” Cole put a blanket over him and Arren curled up beside him on the couch. It was good to be near someone, even if Cole was looking at a chart of where people were working that week and barely paying any attention to him.

  Arren stretched out a little, putting his head on Cole’s thigh. “Did you think any more about my mate?”

  “Any age restrictions?”

  “Within fifteen years older than me, please.” Arren didn’t mind older guys. He just wanted someone who would enjoy being around him, and who would treat him right.

  “You do realize that anyone I choose will be careful about what they say or do around you so that they don’t end up being transferred to another pack for pissing you off and therefore pissing off your dad.”

  Arren knew he was right, and he hated that. “You wouldn’t be like that.”

  “No, I wouldn’t. But again, I don’t actually care what your dad thinks of me. I know I won’t be transferred.”

  Arren mulled that over. Cole continued to work as if the prospect of being mated to him didn’t matter to him one way or the other. “Would you like it? Being mated to me?”

  “You’re a bit bratty for me.”

  Arren huffed irritably. He was about to argue when Cole put his chart aside and lifted Arren across his lap. Arren curled up tighter. When Cole showed him how strong he was he felt small, and a bit helpless. It wasn’t something he minded, though. He wasn’t a rabbit. He was a predator. Maybe not a big predator like Cole was, but getting to feel delicate wasn’t something he got to experience often, and he liked it. At least with Cole, he did.

  Cole held him against his chest, just a big ball of blanket with Arren in the middle. “I don’t think you’d be ready to be the kind of mate I would want you to be. I don’t think you’re at that place in your life where you could be yet. Maybe I’m wrong, though.”

  “What would you want?” Arren quietly asked him.

  “I’d want you to be mine in every way possible. I’d want every ounce of you. Every bit of pleasure would be from me.”

  Arren nodded. He’d heard that kind of talk from the human Doms he’d played with before.

  “If you had a problem, I’d handle it. I’d want you tied up and naked in my bed for hours. You’d only ever be mine. I’d never share you or talk about what we do with anyone else. And I’d need you to always be honest with me. If something was too much for you for you, you’d have to tell me that. Your submission would be all the time, but your consent isn’t. Does that make sense?”

  Arren silently nodded again. Then he leaned back to kiss Cole’s chin. He could have just told Cole how good that sounded to him, and how he wanted that too, but it was so much easier and far more fun to show him.

  He untangled himself from the blankets and slid to the floor. He nuzzled Cole’s cock through the thin material of his shorts. He smelled earthy, and Arren knew he’d shifted recently. Arren ran his mouth over the outline in his shorts, kissing and sucking along Cole’s shaft. Cole pushed his shorts down and dug his fingers into Arren’s hair.

  Arren was used to doing it all himself. He liked showing the guys he was with just how good he was with his mouth. But now Cole took over. Having his mouth controlled, giving up completely to another person—Arren hadn’t realized just how good that could be, too. He didn’t have to think. He just felt. He wasn’t focused on his next technique or making sure his partner wasn’t getting bored with the same thing from him too many times in a row. He didn’t think about the weird noises he might be making, and he didn’t worry about whether he was going too fast.

/>   With Cole taking control of him, Arren simply existed. He breathed in Cole’s scent and he tasted Cole’s salty precum on his tongue. His own cock jumped each time Cole hit the back of his throat, holding him there for just a heartbeat at a time, and he was damn proud of himself for not gagging on Cole’s thick cock.

  Cole pulled him back and Arren wiped his mouth. They weren’t nearly done, but Arren didn’t ask what was next. He knew that Cole would show him.

  Cole brought him to his feet and then laid him out over the couch. He didn’t ask Arren if he was ready. He gave him time to stop this, but Arren had no intention of stopping anything. Cole brought Arren’s legs up around his hips, and Arren knew they’d be more comfortable on a bed, or even if he was on his knees instead of on his back. But he liked this, too. He liked being able to look up at Cole, able to touch him.

  Cole kissed him roughly, and Arren loved the sharp bit of pain that came with Cole’s teeth scraping over his lips. Cole pressed himself against Arren’s hole, and Arren knew this was a test. Was he all just big talk? Arren locked his ankles over Cole’s ass and urged him forward. He could handle it. He wanted it. The sooner Cole figured that out, the sooner they could both come.

  Arren let out a quick growl at the first press of Cole’s cock into his ass. It hurt, but he wanted it. He didn’t like foreplay and the slow prep some guys had done to him. He wanted this. He wanted Cole to push his cock into him and let Arren adjust on his own. The kisses were good, though. He’d take Cole’s rough kisses any day.

  Cole pressed him down into the couch and Arren hung onto him tightly. His rhythm was jerky, not that Arren minded. Each time Cole brought them together, Arren’s cock rubbed against Cole’s stomach and the friction was quickly going to get him off. He wanted to reach for himself, to jack himself off in time with Cole’s thrusts, but he remembered what Cole had said. If they were going to be together, Cole would have control of his pleasure. That meant no making himself come unless Cole told him to.