Chapter 3 #2
“You taste so good, mate,” Theo said against his damp pec before switching to the other side and loving on that nipple for a while.
Pleasure swirled inside Rowan, drugging him and sucking him under faster than the most expensive shifter wine in existence. But it wasn’t enough. He was greedy. He wanted to feel his mate’s naked body on top of his own, so big and strong and demanding. He wanted to be overwhelmed and taken.
“Theo. Please.” He wiggled in his firm hold, not wanting the licking and sucking to stop but needing more at the same time.
“Oh, I see,” Theo said, lifting his head and running his teeth over his bottom lip. “You want me to kiss you somewhere else.”
Before he could respond or beg to be thrown on the bed and fucking ravished already, Theo adjusted one of his hands, and his fingers dipped between Rowan’s cheeks. His thin sweats weren’t much of a barrier, letting him feel the heat against the part of his body no one but his mate would ever touch.
He whimpered, holding Theo’s eyes and ignoring the blush he could feel rising in his face.
Gaze sharpening into that predatory look Rowan was beginning to recognize, his mate slowly lowered him to his bed.
His belly swooped at the change in position, but he didn’t doubt Theo would keep him safe.
When his shoulders hit the mattress, he let his legs drop and reached between them.
He wasn’t sure if he wanted to take off his own pants first or get Theo naked and taste his pale skin, and his fingers ended up fumbling back and forth between their waistbands.
“Having some trouble?” Theo’s smile was gorgeous, his scars crinkling and eyes lightening.
“I can’t decide,” he whimpered. “I want us both naked so bad.”
“Poor little mate.”
He stuck his lip out in a pout, but it quickly disappeared when Theo stepped back and slowly raised his T-shirt over his head.
Rowan’s breath caught in his throat at the sheer size of him.
Thick, rounded pecs covered in dark brown hair and a solid stomach—not carved with abs and with a layer of softness over them, but it was obvious he was pure power.
But then he noticed the scars.
They were scattered all over his torso and arms, and he couldn’t help but wonder how many were hidden under his thick chest hair. A flare of anger ripped through him when his eyes caught on what was obviously a bite mark on the rounded curve of his shoulder.
“Who bit you?” he snarled, shooting upright and grabbing Theo’s forearm. He tugged on him until Theo relented and bent to give him a better view of the faded marks.
“A tiger who took exception to the fact that I was there to kill him,” Theo said dryly.
“Fucker,” Rowan muttered, unable to look away. Another shifter had sunk their teeth in his mate. Had left a permanent mark behind. It didn’t seem to matter to his red panda that it was an act of violence and not intimacy or possession.
He still hated it.
Leaning closer, he ran his tongue over each scar. Over and over, he laid claim to the spot, leaving his scent behind to cover it at least temporarily. When he twisted to get better access to the back of Theo’s shoulder, he froze at the sight of the claw marks spanning from his shoulder to hip.
“Goddess, Theo.” He urged him to turn, and his stomach plummeted at what had to have been a horrifically bad injury.
“Different shifter,” Theo said, voice tighter. The muscles of his back were tensing the longer he looked, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away. “I’ve lived a violent life, Rowan.”
“Thank the goddess it’s over,” Rowan whispered, wrapping his arms around Theo and pressing his face over the middle of the scar. “I’m so grateful you survived and found me.”
Theo slowly relaxed, slipping his hands over Rowan’s where they rested on his stomach. They stayed pressed together like that for a few minutes, breathing in unison and savoring each other’s heat.
“I want to leave my own mark on you,” Rowan said against his warm skin.
THEO
A shudder worked through him, desire reigniting low in his belly. All the marks he carried were from shifters and witches he’d been sent to kill during fights for his life. Each one came with a terrible memory of pain and guilt.
“Anything you want, mate,” he rasped out, giving Rowan’s small hands a squeeze.
“I’ll have to fully shift to do it. My partial shift is pretty much just fluff.”
Theo snorted at the grumpy way he said that. “I’ve never seen your red panda.”
“Really?” Rowan released his hold and leaned back. When Theo turned to face him, his eyebrows were halfway up his forehead. “All the following you did, and you never spotted me out playing in the snow?”
A warm, achy feeling filled his chest. “No, but now I can’t wait to.”
Looking smug, Rowan sat up straighter. “I am pretty adorable. But let’s wait until after orgasms for me to bite you. Maybe that’ll make it hurt less.”
It was his turn to raise his brows. “I’m not afraid of a little pain, especially if it means having you lay your claim on me, mate.”
Rowan sank his teeth into his lower lip and ran his eyes over Theo’s body, lighting up each spot his gaze lingered on. “I want that too. But you’ve had enough pain in your life. Let me do this my way.”
Fuck, he loved this man. It took everything in him not to blurt it out.
Rowan might have been willing to jump into mating with him, but that was the shifter side of him.
Shifters’ animal halves recognized their fated mates right away, and they trusted the fact that they’d be paired with their perfect counterparts.
But the human side would take longer to develop feelings.
Thankfully, Theo was a very patient man.
“Okay,” Theo said, then unbuttoned his pants and lowered his zipper without looking away from Rowan’s face. “Orgasms first.”
Snickering adorably, Rowan quickly shucked his sweats and threw them onto the floor.
He didn’t notice that Theo’s hands froze on his waistband, transfixed by his first look at his naked mate.
His limbs were slender and pale with just the lightest dusting of dark red hair on his legs and arms. There was a narrow patch below his slightly protruding belly button, leading down to his short, slender cock.
The hair on his groin was bright red, brighter than anywhere else, and Theo’s mouth fucking watered, wanting nothing more than to bury his face there and inhale his mate’s scent.
Once Rowan had shimmied himself back so he was lying in the middle of the bed, head on his pillows, he finally refocused on Theo and cocked his head to the side. A light blush worked down his cheeks to his neck the longer Theo continued to just stare.
“What’s wrong?” He didn’t try and cover himself, but Theo could tell his stillness was starting to ruin the moment.
He shook off his daze and stripped himself of his pants and long johns just as quickly as Rowan had his sweats. “Absolutely nothing. You’re so fucking beautiful I lost focus for a second.”
That sweet flush darkened on his face, Rowan licking his lips as he stared at Theo’s much larger dick. “Oh.”
Pride swelled in his chest as he somehow got a little harder under his mate’s appreciative eyes. He wrapped a fist around his length and gave himself a few quick strokes. “Do you have lube?”
It took a second for Rowan to tear his eyes away from Theo’s movements, his toes and fingers curling and uncurling as his irises started to glow.
Goddess, that was sexy. Knowing his little red panda was peeking out at him?
Precome wept from the tip of his cock, and he had to squeeze the base to slow things down before they ended too quickly.
“Y-yes,” Rowan said, sucking in a deep breath and moaning softly. “Goddess, you smell good.”
“Fuck.” He was moving without meaning to, launching himself onto the bed and covering his mate’s sprawled body.
He was so much bigger, so much stronger, the power of it went to his head, and he wanted to consume every inch of Rowan’s skin, every sound from his temptingly pink lips, every filthy desire hiding behind his glowing eyes.
Their lips crashed together, Rowan’s limbs wrapping around him and holding tight. He lost his head, mad with the need to taste every millimeter of Rowan’s mouth. His lips ached from the force of their kisses, but he couldn’t stop, couldn’t get enough.
He doubted he’d ever get enough.
It took him too long to realize Rowan had let go with one of his arms and was flapping it against the bed, stretched out toward the edge. He ripped his mouth away and sucked in deep breaths to relieve the pain in his chest.
Rowan’s whole torso was heaving as he dragged much-needed air into his lungs, and then turned his head to the side. “In there. Get it. Hurry.”
His lust-drunk brain had no idea what Rowan was talking about, but he followed Rowan’s line of sight and then past, where he was pointing to the bedside table with a small drawer.
Right, the lube.
He leaned over, the bed so small he didn’t have to move most of his body to be able to reach it. He jerked the rounded handle so hard the whole drawer came out though, the back end dropping toward the ground and spilling the contents onto the floor.
“Fuck,” he snarled. He turned to look at his mate, finding him covering his mouth to suppress his loud giggles. “You think that’s funny?”
Rowan just laughed harder.
He couldn’t hold back his own smile. Leaning back to his mate, he peeled Rowan’s hand away and licked across his lips, wanting to taste his happiness. Rowan moaned, his humor drying up, and lifted his hips to rub his damp cock against Theo’s furry abdomen.
“I love your smiles,” Theo murmured, then sucked on Rowan’s bottom lip before giving it a quick nip and pulling away. “Don’t move.”
Of course, he had to climb all the way off the bed and kneel on the ground because the lube had ended up halfway under the bed, but he finally wrapped his fingers around it and rose. He wasted no time, slicking his fingers as he made his way back onto the mattress and knelt between Rowan’s legs.
He brushed the backs of his dry fingers along the inside of one of his thighs, gratified at how goose bumps erupted at the soft touch and how quickly his mate spread open for him.
“Ready?” Slowly, he pressed the pad of one finger against Rowan’s tiny hole, just giving him enough pressure to feel it and get used to the sensation.
Breath hitching, Rowan stared down his body with wide eyes, then lifted his glowing gaze to Theo’s face and ran his tongue over his lips. “Yes, I’m… I’m ready for everything.”