Isaiah (7 page)

Bae lifted his head, blood smeared on the corner of his mouth. He looked stunned, more cat than man in mind right then, perhaps. Isaiah wouldn’t probe, but the feral vibes coming from Bae were undeniable.

“Kiss me,” he demanded, because he needed the man, not the beast. Isaiah tugged on the handful of Bae’s hair and Bae winced but crawled up and slanted his mouth over Isaiah’s.

The taste of his blood in Bae’s mouth stroked Isaiah’s cock back to life in seconds as they kissed, and Isaiah took Bae again, but with some restraint. He felt the clawing inside him, the need of his cat, and didn’t trust himself to let go and still keep his leopard from www.total-e-bound.com

ISAIAH

Bailey Bradford

40

taking the bite it needed. He’d never heard anything specifically about it, but Isaiah suspected from the very strength of the urge, it was some necessary part of their mating, their bond.

He just didn’t know how long he could hold back from claiming Bae fully as his own.

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ISAIAH

Bailey Bradford

41

Bae awoke with a groan. His ass ached, his back ached—hell, he hurt all over. But he grinned because he knew damn well and good why he felt like he’d been beaten with a baseball bat. Bae popped one eye open and found Isaiah watching him in return.

“Sore?”

Bae nodded. His alarm went off and he reached over to slap at the obnoxious thing. As he did so, Isaiah rolled to his side and turned the lamp on the nightstand on. When he rolled back Bae’s gaze was immediately drawn to the bite he’d left on Isaiah’s chest. A couple of inches above his left nipple, Bae had marked him. It looked painful, and he’d heard Isaiah’s shout, felt the wave of pain Isaiah had felt—that was quickly drowned by pleasure.

Bae clenched his thighs together as desire pooled in his groin. He didn’t want to be bitten like that. He didn’t. It would hurt.

Isaiah grunted and touched the spot. Then he looked at Bae and gave him a lopsided smile. “Wasn’t so bad. There’s this pleasure-pain to it that is unbelievable. I can easily picture myself begging for you to do this again and again.”

“Right,” Bae scoffed, but Isaiah kept touching it, tracing the deepest spots where Bae’s canines had penetrated him.

“Mmmhm,” Isaiah hummed. He closed his eyes and pushed on part of the battered flesh. “Oh—”

Bae smelt the sudden arousal, Isaiah hot and ready to fuck just that fast. His ass was sore, though, he hadn’t been joking about it. Isaiah had fucked him through the mattress three times during the night. Bae was going to have trouble walking as it was. But, they’d showered after the last time, so there wasn’t any reason he couldn’t spare a few minutes to pleasure his mate.

Without warning, Bae growled playfully and tackled Isaiah. If Isaiah had fought him, well, Bae didn’t know that he’d have been able to sprawl the man on his back. Isaiah, however, was no fool. He rolled and splayed his legs open, already humping when Bae landed on him.

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Bailey Bradford

42

“Oh yeah, I can handle waking up like this.” Isaiah ran his hands down Bae’s back to his butt. He squeezed and pulled Bae’s cheeks apart and Bae whimpered, torn between pain and pleasure, wanting and afraid to give in. “It’s okay honey, I know you don’t want me here again just yet.” Isaiah brushed over his hole and Bae shivered.

“I do, but—” he began.

“Nah, it’s all right.” Isaiah let go of his ass and held him at his waist. He winked at Bae and thrust up. “So what did you have in mind?”

Rather than answer, Bae shot down the length of Isaiah’s body. He had Isaiah’s cock in hand and his lips sealed over the fat crown in seconds. Isaiah moaned, grabbing at Bae’s shoulders before cupping his jaw instead.

“Yeah, honey, let me move, please.” Isaiah thumbed over Bae’s bottom lip, pressing on the centre and shuddering. “Please, Bae, I gotta.”

Bae had always demanded control of blowjobs before, not liking it when a guy got rough and just went at it, but he thought of the bite and his fear of getting one in return, or the way Isaiah had restrained himself so greatly, and Bae hummed his agreement even as he placed his hands beside Isaiah’s hips.

“Yes,” Isaiah hissed as he held Bae still and slowly pushed into his mouth. “Ah, honey, look at you, taking it so beautifully. Gonna let me fuck your mouth, Bae, or do you have to be in control?”

Bae was finding it hard to think when his mate’s flavour was filling him, his scent infused into Bae’s DNA. Bae reached for his own cock as he loosened his jaw, prepared to let Isaiah have this. He squeezed himself but didn’t do anything more, concentrating instead on Isaiah’s pleasure.

What he wasn’t prepared for was how much he liked it, feeling Isaiah take control and fill him with cock. Isaiah pushed in steadily until his cock breached Bae’s throat, then he went even deeper. Bae couldn’t breathe for the split second Isaiah was lodged in like that. It didn’t last any longer, though, because Isaiah withdrew slowly, Bae sucking so hard his jaws ached. He didn’t want to let Isaiah’s cock go.

Bae moaned and flicked his tongue over Isaiah’s frenulum, which got him a guttural sound from Isaiah that sent a shiver down his spine. Isaiah clenched his hands, holding Bae’s face firmly. He thrust in faster, rougher, and just as deep. All Bae could do was take it, and he www.total-e-bound.com

ISAIAH

Bailey Bradford

43

loved it, his cock leaking pre-cum as he closed his eyes. He tugged on his length roughly, the sensation almost overwhelming when combined with the way Isaiah was grunting now, moving in small jerks, withdrawing his cock only an inch or two before plunging back in, penetrating Bae’s throat.

It excited Bae unbearably. The trust he had for Isaiah was built on and expounded by them being mates. He’d never have let someone have so much of himself. Isaiah grunted and thrust, Bae swallowed, pumped his cock. Isaiah gasped and withdrew a few inches, Bae swirled his tongue and jerked himself harder.

“Fuck yeah, honey,” Isaiah said brokenly, Bae looking up to see Isaiah’s eyes roll back as his body went taut. “Yes!” He pushed up, his cum shooting into Bae’s throat. Bae moaned and whipped his hand over his cock, friction causing it to burn uncomfortably—which catapulted him into orgasm.

“Jesus, that was incredible.” Isaiah stroked his jaw as Bae panted around the softening cock in his mouth. “Look at your lips. They’re all slick and swollen. C’mere.” Isaiah tugged and Bae released Isaiah’s shaft then crawled up his body on shaky limbs, driven by the appreciative gleam in Isaiah’s eyes. “Yeah, you liked that, didn’t you.”

It wasn’t a question, so Bae didn’t answer. He wanted to lie down on Isaiah and rub, but was afraid that would hurt his chest.

Isaiah, either knowing through their bond or just wanting the same contact himself, pulled Bae down on him. He embraced Bae and rolled, taking Bae’s mouth. Isaiah licked into him, humming happily as they kissed. Bae held on and matched him in eagerness, twining his tongue with Isaiah’s.

Eventually Isaiah lifted his head and rested his forehead on Bae’s. This close up, the gold seemed particularly vibrant in the green of Isaiah’s irises. The brown seemed to have gone into hiding for now.

“You have to go to work until when?” Isaiah asked.

Bae ran his schedule over in his mind. “There’s nothing scheduled after five, but that doesn’t mean there might not be emergencies, and I volunteer at The Heart tonight at seven.

You could come, if you want.”

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ISAIAH

Bailey Bradford

44

Isaiah gave him a wicked grin. “Oh, I want, very much. Then I want to have dinner with you, talk to you, find out everything I can about you before we go home—to either yours or mine—and you fuck me senseless.”

“Oh, okay.” Bae wanted to kick himself for the inane comment, but in all fairness he hadn’t had his coffee yet. As in, a pot of it. A cup wasn’t much help.

“Just okay?” Isaiah asked, amusement in his voice.

Bae popped him on the ass, which got him a yelp. “Don’t be mean, I need caffeine before I’m good for anything.”

Isaiah snorted. “You were pretty fucking amazing without it a few minutes ago.” He rolled off Bae and practically sprang to his feet, the rat. Bae was so not a morning person.

Isaiah sniffed and held out his hand. “I smell coffee. You better get up before I drink it all.”

“You wouldn’t,” Bae muttered, glaring at Isaiah’s profile. He didn’t think Isaiah would, but Bae scampered out of bed regardless. Honestly, he and Isaiah didn’t know each other at all. Well, they had their mate-bond, the mental link between them that might or might not grow stronger. Bae could pick up the outlines of Isaiah’s emotions, but he didn’t want to prod to see just how much he could feel or sense of his mate’s thoughts.

They’d have dinner tonight, talk, all the stuff normal people did when they were starting to date someone. And Bae would have to call his family, because as much as he was dreading it, they needed to know he’d found his mate. That he was male was going to piss some of them off.

“What’re you thinking about that’s got you feeling so tense?” Isaiah asked as they walked into the kitchen. Bae shook his head at himself and checked out the sweet swells of Isaiah’s ass. He was going to get to fuck that tonight. “Whoa, and that was a wave of lust that just made my dick hard all over again.” Isaiah stopped by the counter and turned, and sure enough, his long, thick cock was erect and curving up towards his stomach. “Thinking about my ass, by any chance?” Isaiah wiggled his hips, flexing his ass and making his cock bob.

Bae’s mouth went dry, and his dick did its best to match Isaiah’s perky state. “Yeah, I was.”

Isaiah slapped himself on one cheek, much as Bae had done earlier. “Told ya, it’s all yours tonight, and that’s something I’ve never done before. Probably I should have said that, too.”

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ISAIAH

Bailey Bradford

45

Bae jerked his gaze up to Isaiah’s handsome face. “Never? Why not?”

Isaiah shrugged. “Just didn’t want to. Or maybe I’m a secret romantic who was saving it for the right man.”

Although Isaiah was joking about the last part, Bae sensed some truth in it. He was flattered, and fucking hell, it was going to be a long day.

“So why were you stressing out before you noticed my delectable ass?”

Isaiah’s question shot Bae’s erection down to half-staff. He stumbled over to open the cabinet where the coffee cups were kept. “It’s complicated. I’d rather wait until tonight to talk about it.”

Isaiah poured them each some coffee once Bae set the cups down. “Is being with me going to be a problem?”

Bae checked Isaiah’s expression, because suddenly the mental link between them was gone, Isaiah keeping him out. Isaiah couldn’t hide the hurt in his expression, though.

Bae sighed and looked at his coffee longingly. It was going to have to wait a few more minutes. He faced Isaiah. There was no point in lying. Isaiah would know if he did, even without the bond. He’d scent it, or see it in the way Bae held himself. Lying to a shifter was rarely successful.

“Yes,” Bae admitted, and Isaiah closed his eyes and started to turn away. “No, wait.”

Bae caught Isaiah’s elbow and turned him back around. “Look at me.” Isaiah did and Bae opened his mind to his mate the best he knew how—he wasn’t all that knowledgeable, though, having just found his mate last night. “Isaiah, I wouldn’t give you up for anything.

Mates just don’t do that. But, I told you we’re extinct in South Korea, and I meant us, Amur shifters, not just the leopards.” Bae bit back another sigh and picked up his coffee cup with his free hand. He gulped the contents down, fuck the heat of it, and it felt like his throat was singed. He needed to chase the fog out of his brain.

“Can you sit for a minute?” he asked. A quick check of the time told him it was seven.

He had a little bit before he needed to be on the road.

Isaiah sat, naked and glorious at the kitchen table. He was so enticing that Bae considered jumping him then and there, but he remembered the way Isaiah had shut down, was still shut down. A fuck wasn’t worth that. Bae refilled his mug and carried the pot to the table, where he set the carafe down. Isaiah sipped his coffee, eyes not quite meeting Bae’s.

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ISAIAH

Bailey Bradford

46

“Isaiah.” He waited for Isaiah to look at him, then smiled gently and held out his hand on the table. Isaiah took it immediately, which eased some of the tension knotted in Bae’s chest. “My family’s views are not my own. Surely you don’t agree with everything your family does.”

“I do, pretty much,” Isaiah said, looking almost embarrassed about it. “But my family will love you. They would never begrudge me the kind of happiness the other mated couples have.”

Bae drank half his cup of coffee and refilled it. “Unfortunately, my family is extremely concerned with our species. Although some have found mates outside of the Amur, they have still, uh, contributed to the gene pool, as it were.”

Isaiah frowned. “What the hell does that mean?”

“Nothing good in my opinion.” Bae fidgeted, but there was really no way to talk about his family’s rules without making them sound awful. They weren’t, not totally—but they were over this one thing.

“Bae, what does that mean?” Isaiah asked again, this time sounding angry.

Bae shook his head. “They insist every fertile person contribute.” Isaiah started to speak but Bae held up his free hand. “Wait. Just listen, okay? They aren’t monsters, just…it’s very hard for our females to get pregnant, so once they’re adults, they’re encouraged to be promiscuous within our species. Sometimes males are brought in from other lepes.

Sometimes our males are sent to others, to…to do their part.” He inhaled, exhaled, trying to calm himself, because now their mind link was open and he could feel Isaiah’s fury throbbing like a hammered thumb. “They don’t force anyone—”

“They do.” Isaiah’s tone made it clear he was inflexible on his opinion. “They make every fertile male and female reproduce, that’s what you’re saying. Whether they want to or not.”