What's Your Poison? (10 page)

“You just can’t let it go, can you?” He chuckled and shook his head.

“No, because we have too much fun fighting now,” Rylan countered, starting to move up and down his shaft and take more of him inside. Micah let his mate set the pace, his only movements included breathing and the occasional jolt of his hips when Rylan clamped down around him.

When Rylan finally took all of him and sat on his pelvis, Micah froze, afraid to move in case it was too soon. The steady stream of lust leaking into him had lessened to more of trickle instead of a white-water rapids. It was still there, but muted so he guessed whatever Remy and Skylar had done had worked off some of the overflow.

That didn’t matter. All that did was Rylan and him.

His mate caught his eyes again, and he saw a desperation he hadn’t expected, a vulnerability he never would have asked for. He tested the waters and gently rolled his hips up, pressing even deeper inside, and Rylan yelped, hands tightening on his hair. “More.”

He repeated the motion, and this time Rylan growled and ground down on him, twisting his hips in a sinful way that already had Micah struggling to keep his composure.

The sensual grace in the way Rylan moved undid him. He smoothed his hands down Rylan’s back to his ass and lifted. Rylan rose up, paused, then came back down with a moan, arching his back when Micah stole a kiss.

Rylan opened to him immediately, taking the kiss further until his eyes slid closed and they began to move in earnest. They rocked and swayed, rising and falling in perfect sync. He let Rylan take the lead in the kiss, whimpering when Rylan fucked his mouth slow and deliberately to mirror the way the sexy man worked up and down his cock.

He already had a hair trigger after the blue-balled blow job. This intense, slow workout as he lifted his hips off the leather cushions beat that hands down, and from the way Rylan’s grip was in danger of giving him a bald spot, he’d say his mate agreed.

Breaking away, he dragged in a few breaths before returning. Micah chased Rylan’s lips to claim them again and Rylan met him halfway, keeping the steady tempo of their bodies sliding against one another.

“Micah!” Rylan howled in his ear, deafening him, but the pain barely registered as his own orgasm hit him like lightning barely a second later.

“Rylan!”

He shuddered and quaked as he thrust up until he was balls deep inside his mate and gave in to the need to bite down on Rylan’s neck. The perfect fit for him, Rylan did the same, sinking his sharp teeth into the mark Micah wore with pride.

He became aware again when Rylan started shaking him. “Micah, something’s happening.”

Immediately alert, he sat up straight and checked his mate over. He couldn’t see anything outwardly wrong and his wolf couldn’t pick up on anyone nearby that might have posed a threat. Yet panic shot through the bond at him from Rylan.

“My wolf wants out. I can’t stop it—” Rylan’s eyes grew huge and wolf-bright as the transformation began. Micah quickly disengaged their bodies and took them to the floor so Rylan would have more room and the wolf would feel more comfortable and not crowded.

“It’s okay. Go with it,” he urged, sensing that was what Rylan should do.

Rylan shifted quickly, the wolf bursting free of the human skin and left Micah stunned. Rylan’s wolf was whole, shaking out his glorious pelt of fine shades of grey and black. The fur was thick and healthy, covered in Rylan’s scent of wild apples. The extra energy he’d siphoned from Remy must have transferred to Rylan’s wolf, healing him.

“You’re so beautiful. You wolf is magnificent,” he complimented as Rylan came to him and brushed up against his leg. He reached down and sank his hands into the soft fur, growling low in his throat in appreciation of the sensation and the gift of trust Rylan was allowing him by letting him touch his wolf while in human form.

When he went to continue his stroking and petting, Rylan jumped away from him and bowed like a puppy asking to play.

“Let’s go run, mate.”

Rylan yipped in assent, bouncing on his paws excitedly.

He initiated his shift. A few seconds later, he stood on four legs next to his mate, a little taller and bulkier, but Rylan was still the prettiest.

Epilogue

Jake

The lab was silent except for the intermittent beeps and whirring of his various machines. Usually that would have comforted him, but now…it was smothering.

Jake stood at his desk, staring at the business card Lars had sneaked into his pocket. Sage was long gone and the mated pairs had all reported back success with his serum. They’d mated and cemented their bonds without any issues. All the pairs seemed blissfully happy, like they were stuck in a cloud of joy that he just couldn’t reach. He was happy for them, truly he was. Nevertheless, his jackal refused to quiet inside him, constantly calling for his mate. The mate who didn’t want him and never would.

Twirling the card in his hand, he wondered if he should call the number. Lars wouldn’t have made sure Jake had his card if he wasn’t interested. He was sick of being alone, of being unwanted. However, his jackal would never let him get close to another male and potential partner now that Sage had admitted to them being mates.

Without conscious thought, his mind strayed and teased at an answer that would allow him to forget about Sage and be able to move on. It was right in front of him in cabinet to his left, everything he’d need to do it. Where he kept Trevor’s contagions.

He could do it, smother the instincts without drugging his animal or becoming an obedient shell of himself. The first thing he’d done when he’d begun looking for an antidote to the smoke was separate out the formulas targeting obedience and the ones he recognised from the vampire’s contaminated blood stock as blocking the impulses the brain sent to the body and senses to identify a mate. It would only require him to inhale a small amount of the concentrated smoke to short circuit that part of his brain.

Finally, he would be able to think clearly without the gnawing pain in his chest that ate at him night and day. It was even affecting his work. Earlier he’d been so distracted thinking about where Sage could be that he’d almost given Elder Lavi an empty vial instead of one filled with serum.

He had a responsibility to the Blood Moon Pack and Coven Alliance to perform to his greatest ability and uncover more about the poisons and drugs being used against shifters and vampires. He’d given his word to help if he could. That meant he had to do whatever was necessary to carry out his promise.

Sitting there grieving for a mate who would never claim him made that impossible. He wouldn’t be weak and sit there pining for a man—a wolf—that had cast him aside like unwanted trash. Sage wasn’t going to take his work away from him and run him from the only home he had. He would
not.

Decision made, Jake retrieved the sample pieces of firewood, the ones he’d neutralised the obedience factor on, from the cabinet, and headed to the Bunsen burner. Lighting it was easy—as soon as the wood met the hot flame, it smouldered and caught. Immediately smoke rose from the piece, scenting the air faintly with cloves.

Placing the burning wood in a heat dish, he switched off the burner and stared stoically at the tiny red mouths blackening the kindling as the embers continued to create smoke.

Tears crept from his eyes as Jake forced himself to suck the polluted air into his lungs. As his animal struggled, fighting the drugging mixture, he sank down to the floor. His back pressed hard against the cold cabinets as he kept breathing it in. He closed his eyes and focused on calming his jackal. His tears only came faster.

About the Author

There really is nothing better than a good book and a big mug of tea on a rainy day, which is often needed when considering the wet weather in Wales. She is rarely found without a book of some description on her person and a notebook, she can always be seen scribbling and doodling while lost in thought about sometimes random nonsense or day dreaming about alternate worlds of fiction. Real life may not be much fun but the imagination allows infinite possibilities to be explored and lots of naughty fun too if you’re up to the challenge. So in the words of a crazy scientist—I reject your reality and submit one of my own. Happy reading.