Chapter 4
Chapter Four
ROWAN
His heart was racing, partly from excitement and partly from fear that he was going to scare off his human mate.
He needed to remember, no matter how much Theo wanted him or what he felt for Rowan, it wouldn’t be the same as if he were a shifter.
The intensity of Rowan’s need for him would probably have him running straight out of his apartment, taking his deer with him.
Theo watched him for a long second, eyes narrowed like he was trying to figure out if Rowan had meant more than just being ready for his dick. Keeping his finger pressing against him, Theo leaned forward and planted his other fist on the bed next to Rowan’s head.
“Say what you mean, mate.”
He sucked in a breath. Theo’s demand, delivered in his husky rasp, had shivers skating down his spine. Could he be brave like his sweet human, who’d been terrified of being rejected because of his scars but still attempted to woo Rowan in the old ways?
“Rowan…”
“I meant I’m ready for everything with you,” he whispered, glancing away, but Theo’s callused hand gripped his chin and tugged his face back around.
For the briefest of moments, he could have sworn his mate’s eyes flashed, the irises glowing from the inside like a shifter’s whose animal was pushing to the surface. But it was gone as fast as it came, and he knew he’d imagined it. He had to have. There was no way a human could do that.
“Don’t say it if you don’t mean it,” Theo murmured, caressing his lower lip with his thumb.
“I mean it,” he assured him quickly. “Being near you… it’s like my soul is suddenly complete. Like half of me was missing, but now you’ve perfectly notched into the empty space. I know you’ll need to take things slower, but when—”
“Fuck that,” Theo snarled, driving his finger inside Rowan’s body and burying his face in his neck. “You say the word and I’m never leaving your side. I want to spend every second with you. I want to live with you—fuck, I want to live inside you.”
Rowan arched against him, wanting that intruding finger deeper and sinking a hand into Theo’s thick hair to hold him tight against his throat. He tipped his head back, offering more, offering everything.
“I want that too,” he gasped, then moaned when Theo fucked him slowly with his thick finger. “More. I’m not fragile. You don’t have to be so careful with me.”
Theo grunted and worked a second inside him, the burn lasting just a few seconds before his body relaxed. “You’re so tiny. Even as just a human, I’m worried I’m going to split you in half.”
“Goddess, yes,” he hissed, slipping an arm between them but unable to reach his mate’s huge dick. Stupid short arms. Instead, he raked his nails through the hair on Theo’s belly. “Do it, Daddy.”
Theo jolted against him and groaned, the sound ragged and full of want.
“Which just caused that?” Rowan whispered, turning to lick the shell of Theo’s ear. “This—” He scratched his belly again. “—or calling you Daddy?”
Shuddering, Theo withdrew his fingers and sat up.
Even on his knees, he towered over Rowan, his chest and shoulders blocking out most of the room.
“Say it again,” he demanded, grabbing the lube and squirting some more in his hand to smear on his cock.
When Rowan just stared at what he was doing, Theo stroked himself a few times and said, “Say it again, mate, or I keep this to myself.”
He knew Theo was teasing, but he couldn’t take the risk that he might be telling the truth. Grabbing the backs of his legs, he pulled them up to his chest, offering himself to his mate. “Please, Daddy, split me in half.”
“Fuck!” Theo barked and squeezed the base of his shaft, eyes pinched shut. He took three deep breaths before opening them.
Rowan gasped, sitting up a little and letting go of his legs. “Theo—”
He didn’t get a chance to tell him his eyes were definitely glowing before Theo was on top of him, kissing him hard and thoroughly, stealing the very thoughts from his brain.
Just as his lungs were screaming for air, Theo ripped his mouth away and grabbed at the pillows under Rowan’s head, shoving them under his hips instead and raising his ass up in the air.
“Try to just relax. Let me in,” Theo instructed, guiding his dick between his cheeks until his wide head was pressed against Rowan’s opening. Theo flicked his eyes up to him, watching him carefully, and pushed.
It felt like… nothing he’d ever experienced before.
His body opened for his mate, allowing him to fill up every single inch inside him, and still there was more.
The burn of the intrusion stole his breath, but it still felt so good.
Theo pressed against every nerve ending, rubbing and stimulating as he just kept going.
“Goddess,” Rowan moaned, fisting the bedsheets and throwing his head back. “I can’t… How are you… It’s so much…”
Grunting, Theo thrust the rest of the way in, and Rowan swore he felt the tip in his damn belly. He could barely catch his breath, his body spasming, alternating between too much oh shit and yes please more.
“Touch yourself,” Theo said, grabbing one of his hands and guiding it to his dick.
He wasn’t sure he had enough brainpower left to coordinate so much as opening his eyes, let alone jacking himself. Pleasure was spiraling inside him, his red panda scratching at the surface, so damn eager to break free and lay claim to their mate.
“Do it, Rowan. You’re too tight,” Theo said, voice strained. “I’m going to last about three thrusts before nutting.”
Rowan moaned and squeezed himself, forcing his eyes to focus on his mate.
Theo dragged his hips back, withdrawing about halfway, and then drove forward again.
Every muscle in his body was tensed and bulging, a light sheen of sweat growing on his flushed skin.
Rowan ran his eyes over every glorious inch, wanting to lick him everywhere.
He tried to match his strokes with Theo’s thrusts, but the harder Theo fucked him, the less control he had over his limbs. His brain was fuzzing, heat beginning to build low in his belly and down his spine. Finally, he gave up and flopped his arm down to the side.
“Rowan—” Theo gasped, shaking his head but not slowing down at all.
“Don’t need it,” he mumbled, feeling the slam of Theo’s hips all the way up his body and down his limbs. All he wanted to do was experience it. He was being taken, claimed, mated. “Goddess. Faster…”
Theo’s hands squeezed his hips hard enough to leave bruises on a human. “Say please.”
His balls tingled. “Please, Daddy. Faster, please. Make me come on your cock.”
The sound Theo made was inhuman, a snarling growl that ripped Rowan’s orgasm out of his balls.
Crying out, he arched his body off the bed as white spots danced in his eyes.
He’d never come so hard in his life, his muscles giving out after and leaving him a limp noodle.
His chest heaved as he watched his mate through half-lidded eyes.
Theo was magnificent, thrusting inside his lax body over and over, chasing his own release. “You’re mine now, Rowan. Mine. Forever.”
“Yours,” he agreed, slurring a little.
Buried as deep as it could go, Theo’s cock swelled against his battered insides before coating them in liquid heat. Rowan couldn’t hold back a moan at the decadent sensation, already wanting to do the whole thing over again.
“Holy shit,” Theo gasped, jaw tense and hips jolting like he wanted to try and somehow shove just a little farther inside him.
Rowan hummed and stretched, ready to crash. “That was amazing.”
Theo sucked in a couple of deep breaths, then carefully withdrew.
He felt so empty now without his monstrous cock inside him, and he pouted as Theo climbed off the bed and grabbed something off the floor—his long johns. When he brought them back over to the bed, he spotted Rowan’s disgruntled face and chuckled.
“What’s wrong?”
“You pulled out too soon. Next time, will you stay in me longer?”
Theo froze, half-stretched over the bed to reach his ass and apparently use his own underclothes to clean Rowan up.
He cleared his throat, but Rowan could only see the scarred side of his face, making it impossible to try and read his expression.
Subtly, he inhaled, trying to penetrate the heavy scent of sex coating everything to decipher what was going through his mate’s head.
Carefully, Theo wiped the excess lube and come from Rowan and then tossed the long johns back on the floor. “Give me half an hour.”
Rowan snorted and scrubbed at his face, relieved he hadn’t freaked him out. “Come here,” he said, moving the pillows out of the way. “Lie down on your back.”
“You need a bigger bed,” Theo grumbled, but he did as instructed, laying himself out on the full-size bed and taking up… most of it.
“Tomorrow’s problem.” He climbed on top of Theo, straddling his waist, and his knees barely touched the mattress next to his hips. “Can I still… Are you still okay with me biting you?”
Theo ran his hands up his thighs and squeezed. “Hell yeah. Sink your teeth in me, mate.”
He made a soft meeping sound, excitement pumping through him. “You’re sure?”
“I’m sure,” Theo said without hesitation.
Rowan took a deep breath and shook out his arms, closing his eyes.
He found his red panda inside him, ready and waiting, but the shift itself took a little longer.
The strength of a shifter directly depended on the strength of their bond with their alpha, and he was too new to the Kincaid Pack to have more than a preliminary bond with Alpha Kincaid.
It would grow though, and he’d get back to his old speed of changing, maybe even faster, since Rick Kincaid was a lot more powerful than his aunt had been.
The sensation was strange but familiar, one he’d experienced thousands of times: his body shrank, limbs reshaping, fur sprouting. The shift was a surge of pure magic which could be overwhelming, but he trusted his red panda and the steady presence of his mate.
When he opened his eyes, he was at a different angle, perched haphazardly on Theo’s stomach. His mate was smiling widely, the left side not moving quite as much as the right but not detracting from his handsomeness at all.
“Fuck, you’re adorable.” Theo stroked a hand down Rowan’s back and scratched behind his ears.
Preening, he leaned into the touches, wanting as much of Theo’s scent on him as possible. Unfortunately, he leaned a little too far and started to slide off his torso. He made a soft twittering noise of alarm, but his mate’s big hands were already securing him and tugging him up his chest.
“Easy there. No falling off me or the bed.”
He refused to be embarrassed. Whether in this form or when human, he was clumsy, and it was best that Theo knew that now. He had a feeling he’d be putting his mate’s quick reflexes to the test pretty often.
Moving slowly so he didn’t startle him, Rowan lowered his head and pressed his nose directly against the thin skin right at the front of his mate’s throat.
His scent, while alluring in his human form, was exquisite like this.
The different notes of Theo were also overlaid with his own scent, and that excited him, desire pooling in his belly.
Once he bit Theo, their scents would stay intertwined on his mate’s skin, warning away any other shifters who got too close.
He couldn’t resist licking up the tantalizing column before rubbing his face against the small protrusion of his Adam’s apple. Theo huffed a soft laugh, sinking his fingers deeper in his fur.
“Tickles a little.”
He did it again just to make Theo laugh again, loving the rusty sound. When he lifted his head, Theo didn’t hesitate to turn his face and tip his chin up, exposing the right side of his neck more fully.
But he didn’t want to mark that side. He probably should have talked to Theo about it before he’d shifted, but he hadn’t considered where exactly he’d bite him.
His red panda knew what he wanted though.
His instincts were so much stronger like this, it was hard to resist. And why should he?
He knew Theo was self-conscious about his scars.
By putting his claiming bite on that side, maybe he’d help Theo start to view that side of his face like Rowan did: just as beautiful as the rest of him.
It told the world he was a warrior who’d survived something horrible. He deserved to walk through life with nothing but pride.
Rowan nuzzled the exposed skin his mate was presenting, then nosed at his face, urging him to turn. He did, but his scent shifted, turning a little sour with apprehension.
“Rowan…”
He pressed his furry cheek against Theo’s scarred one and held it there, allowing Theo to just feel him and his devotion. Theo’s breath hitched, heart rate spiking just slightly, but the longer Rowan stayed put, the more he relaxed.
Just in case the message wasn’t clear, he’d tell him just as soon as he could talk again that he didn’t just accept Theo’s scars, he cherished them just as much as he did the rest of him.
Once Theo’s breaths were steady and even and his scent had mellowed out again, Rowan moved, dragging his nose down his bumpy cheek and jaw.
At the junction of his neck and shoulder, Rowan licked over the salty skin once and then struck, sinking his teeth as deep as he could.
His mark wouldn’t be as big and impressive as that of larger animals, but it was his.
Theo jolted beneath him, hands fisting painfully in his fur. “Shit.”
Rowan lifted his head and was shifting back without hesitation, worried he’d really hurt him.
“Oof,” Theo grunted, dodging one of Rowan’s elbows. “A little warning next time.”
Rowan laughed and righted himself so he was back to straddling his giant mate, but on his chest now instead of over his hips. “Am I too heavy?”
Theo gave him a deadpan look. “Yeah, you’re crushing me.”
Grinning, he eyed his handiwork and shivered. There was a trickle of blood that was going to stain the sheets, but he couldn’t have cared less. “Somehow, you’re even sexier now.”
Theo rolled his eyes.
“I mean it,” he insisted, sliding backward before tipping forward and sprawling over Theo. “Mm, and you’re really warm too.”
“Don’t go to sleep yet,” Theo said, palming his ass and giving him a squeeze. “I need to lock up and turn off the lights.”
“In a few minutes.” He squirmed, finding the most perfect spot and sighing gently.
“In a few minutes,” Theo agreed, brushing his hair back from his face and then cupping the back of his head. “Thank you.”
“What for?” His voice was muffled against the biggest pecs he’d ever seen—and he had plans for them, just as soon as he got some sleep.
“Giving me one I can love.”
Tears pricked at his eyes, and he wrapped his arms as far around Theo as he could manage, wedging his hands between his back and the mattress. He pressed a kiss to his furry chest and whispered, “Thank you for your terrible courting gift.”