Chapter 27 - Harland
HARLAND
Harland stared at the document from the alpha council acknowledging his claim to Spellerview, and his status as an alpha.
His mouth twisted in amusement at the accompanying letter. It seemed his claim was being recognized on the recommendation of the Northwestern Pack.
It rankled that his claim on its own was not sufficient, but Marcus was his mate. A little help was acceptable.
“You’re up late,” Max said, walking into the room and coming up behind him, leaning over the back of his chair so that he could see what he was looking at.
“I’ve had a lot on my mind,” Harland said.
“So, it’s official?” Max asked, taking the document and glancing it over.
“It is.”
“Nice.” Max sat down on the couch across from him. He put his feet up on the coffee table and grinned. “Congratulations, alpha.”
“Thank you,” Harland said.
Hearing Max call him alpha always gave him a bit of a thrill, but now it felt even better. He looked at Max with a fond smile, and then did a double-take.
His young mate was wearing one of the leather outfits Harland had gotten for him to aid in their seduction of Warren. This one consisted of tight leather jeans, combat boots, and a tight black t-shirt.
The look gave Max an edge he usually lacked, making him appear almost dangerous. It made Harland want to strap him down and edge him until he cried.
“Where are you off to?” he asked, licking his lips.
“Warren agreed to go shopping with me,” Max said, sounding thrilled. “I just talked to him. He has class right now, but I’m picking him up at three and we’re going to the Leather Factory to look at toys.”
“Am I invited?” Harland asked. Shopping for sex toys didn’t seem like an activity that Max and Warren should engage in alone. He didn’t want Max forgetting himself and getting too enthusiastic with his purchases and scaring poor Warren from ever wanting to play with them.
God only knew what Max would buy if left to his own devices. Harland had seen his wish list.
“Sure,” Max said, sounding pleased. “If you’re not too tired?”
“I’m not.”
Harland could go days without rest, and other than a slight feeling of fatigue, he would be fine staying awake until nightfall.
“And this is like the one place where your daytime getup won't be out of place,” Max said, nodding down at Harland’s protective leather suit.
Harland considered driving with Max to pick up Warren, but he decided to ride his bike instead. Riding in winter was perilous – he’d crashed more than once when hitting a patch of black ice – but he could usually catch himself and prevent any damage from occurring.
He followed Max’s truck to the university campus, parking behind him and waiting for Warren to come meet up with them.
They didn’t have to wait long. After a few minutes and countless stares and hushed whispers aimed in his direction, Warren came walking down the path, his friend walking next to him.
Harland smirked behind the visor of his helmet at the face Warren made when he noticed him. Shock, his mouth parting into a cute little circle, and then a fierce blush as he took in Harland straddling his bike and watching him.
Waving, and then saying goodbye to his friend, Warren jogged over to Max’s truck and climbed inside.
They drove off, leaving Warren’s friend staring at Harland with wide eyes. Harland nodded at him, startling the boy badly enough that he almost fell, and then kicked his bike into gear and followed the truck.
The Leather Factory was outside the city center, near the industrial area.
It was located in a converted factory, next to a weed dispensary, sprawling out over three entire floors.
When he’d first visited, Harland had been confused how a city the size of Spellerview could support such a place, but then he learned that this was the base of their web store and the location from which they shipped all their product.
Harland parked his bike next to Max’s truck, swinging his leg over his bike as he dismounted.
Max and Warren climbed out of the truck.
“Hi, Harland,” Warren said, his voice breathy. His eyes were dark, his pupils blown wide as he looked up at the visor of Harland’s helmet.
Deciding to have a little fun, Harland said nothing. Instead, he reached out and tousled Warren’s hair.
Warren leaned into his touch like a cat seeking to be pet.
“Let’s go inside,” Max said, eager and impatient to get started. He walked toward the front door, leaving Harland and Warren to follow.
Harland put his hand on the back of Warren’s neck, squeezing down with a forceful grip, and steered him inside.
Warren shuddered, his eyes glazed and allowing himself to be handled without objection.
“So, are you having a nice day?” Warren asked as they stepped into the store. He was clearly nervous.
Harland squeezed down on the boy’s neck, rubbing his gloved thumb up and down the skin beneath his ear.
Warren opened his mouth, as though he wanted to ask another question, but he shut his jaw with a click and stayed silent.
Harland smirked behind the visor of his helmet. With his face hidden, he felt very anonymous. He wasn’t, of course, but he still wanted to play a character.
He hoped Warren would enjoy spending time with his silent, faceless, leather-clad biker.
“Oh, wow. This place is big.”
Warren looked around, overwhelmed.
The Leather Factory was divided into three distinct areas. The ground floor housed toys and the more vanilla bondage gear, the second floor housed leather and roleplaying costumes, while the third and smallest floor housed the serious bdsm gear.
They would work their way up, and depending on how Warren reacted, maybe skip the third floor entirely.
Max grabbed a cart and headed right for the anal toys. Harland bit back a sigh, following.
“This is the training set I showed you online,” Max said, holding up a box with five butt-plugs and dropping it into the shopping cart. He moved on. “Ooh! These are inflatable!”
Max added the second set of butt-plugs to the cart.
They walked down the aisle, Max grabbing dildos, butt-plugs and strangely shaped toys and dropping them into the cart one after another, all the while Warren looked more and more overwhelmed.
When Max reached up and grabbed a set of anal beads the size of oranges off the top shelf, Harland reached out and put his hand on his arm to stop him.
Max froze, his expression confused, before he glanced at Warren and saw his shell-shocked expression.
“I guess we have enough anal toys,” he said, putting the beads back.
Warren let out a relieved breath.
With anal toys out of the way, Max calmed down considerably.
“See anything you like?” he asked, pulling Warren away from Harland’s grip and taking him over to a wall lined with cute clamps, cock-rings and chastity devices. These were, Harland knew, the cute cousins of the more serious gear on the third floor.
Warren licked his lips and approached a pair of nipple clamps. They were on a chain, with rubber coating on the clamps themselves and a gear for adjusting the strength of the grip. Testing them on his finger, Warren bit his lip and blushed before turning to Max.
“Maybe something like this?”
“Nice,” Max said, taking the clamps and putting them into the cart. “We have some at home, but those can be yours.” He reached for one of the rubber chastity devices. “What about this? Would you like it if we locked your cock away and only let you come when you’d been an especially good boy?”
Warren snorted and shook his head. “I don’t get why anyone would want that. Isn’t the whole point of sex getting to come at the end of it?”
Max moved to put the cage back, but Harland reached out and stopped him. Turning his visor toward Warren, he took the cage out of Max’s fingers and dropped it into the cart.
Warren stared at him with wide eyes, holding his breath, his body completely still as he processed what had just happened.
“Okay,” Max said, looking a little nervous himself. Harland had never shown an interest in chastity before, so he must be wondering if Harland had any plans for him, too. “Moving on.”
Harland put his hand back on the nape of Warren’s neck, the two of them following Max down the aisles in a methodical pattern. They grabbed a few more things – a few sleeves for masturbating, some bottles of lube, and some nipple suckers – before taking the elevator to the second floor.
Watching the three of them in the mirrored doors, Harland admired the sight of Warren standing between him and Max. He looked so small and breakable, his zipped open parka coat and jeans standing in stark contrast to the leather worn by his alphas.
The second floor was the one Harland was excited about. They had just exited the elevator when Max’s phone rang.
“Hello?”
Harland listened to Max’s boss from the station ask if Max could come in and cover the current shift. Two of his coworkers had come down with food poisoning while on the clock, and they needed someone to come in immediately to have enough guys for each engine.
“Of course, I’ll be there in ten,” Max said. He hung up and looked at Warren. “Sorry, I have to go to work. There’s been a bout of food poisoning and they need me to cover.”
“Of course,” Warren said. “We can finish another day.”
Max shrugged. “That’s okay. I already picked out the stuff I was excited about. You guys should take your time and finish up.”
Harland nodded.
“I guess, sure,” Warren said, glancing up at Harland. Harland turned his head and looked back at him, saying nothing.
Warren swallowed and looked away.
“Okay, have fun, you two.” Max kissed the side of Harland’s helmet and Warren’s forehead. He jogged over to the stairs, disappearing from sight.
Harland grabbed Warren by his shoulders, moving him in front of him, and leaned down to grab the handle of the cart. The position left Warren caged in between the cart and Harland's body.
Warren reached up and grabbed the handles too, his hands positioned between Harland's gloved grip, and started walking.
“Are you going to talk at all today?” Warren asked as they moved into the furthest aisle.
Harland said nothing.
“God, this is so intimidating,” Warren whispered, jumping when Harland moved his hand to Warren’s chest and gave it a rub.
Warren let out a breathless laugh. “Okay, I guess we’re doing this.”