Chapter Twelve
K i a’s phone, normally an everyday object, now seemed like a ticking bomb or a venomous snake poised to strike as it sat on the table. He paced back and forth in the kitchen, nibbling on his thumbnail, each pounding beat of his heart feeling like a punch to his sternum. A bead of sweat slid down from his temple, his breath shaky and erratic. Outside, the faint sound of cars passing could be heard, but all Kia could focus on was his phone.
“I think I’m having a heart attack,”
he declared to the empty room, pressing his hand to his chest. “Can you actually die from making a dreaded phone call?”
With a shake of his head, Kia flopped into a chair, rested his elbow on the table, and leaned his forehead into his hand. It felt like being on the edge of a cliff, with the ground crumbling beneath his feet.
For most of his life, Kia had tried to avoid Xavier, pretending he had all the freedom in the world. But now that he had to face his uncle, he was seriously freaking out.
Still, he had no choice. Matias had pretty much ordered him to do it. Since Kia was now a part of the wolf pack—still completely insane given he was a cheetah—he had to follow Matias’s orders.
Summoning every ounce of courage, he grabbed the phone, determined to make the call to his uncle without fear threatening to strangle him.
But then, just as swiftly, Kia put it back down, opting instead to grab a juice from the fridge, chugging half the bottle in one go to soothe his dry mouth. Sinking back into his chair, he whispered to himself, “Come on, Kia. You don’t need Suero here to hold your hand. You got this.”
His mate wasn’t home, and Kia wanted to use the quiet moment to talk to Xavier. He just needed to actually dial the phone.
Glancing at the clock, Kia wondered how long it would be until Suero got home. Not that Kia needed him to do this. He could handle one freaking phone call on his own.
Even if the thought made his stomach twist into knots. Kia took another gulp of juice, draining the bottle.
“Stop being a coward,”
he muttered. “Just call him.”
Before he could lose his nerve again, Kia snatched up the phone and located Xavier's number in his contacts. His thumb hovered over the call button. One press and there’d be no going back.
Closing his eyes, Kia took a deep breath and dropped his thumb.
The line rang once. Twice. Kia’s pulse hammered. On the third ring, the click of someone picking up. His eyes snapped open.
Xavier’s deep voice came through the speaker, smooth but anxious. “Are you okay, pulsante ?”
Pressing a trembling hand over his mouth, Kia struggled to keep from sobbing. His uncle hadn’t called him “button”
since he was a small kitten. Hearing Xavier’s concern, the worry so clear in his voice, a lump formed in Kia’s throat. He didn’t know how much he needed this until now, and it cracked him open in a way he hadn’t expected.
“Yes,”
he said, unable to stop his voice from catching. He sniffed and quickly wiped his tears away with the back of his hand and cleared his throat. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you. It’s just…”
“I can be overbearing,”
Xavier offered softly. “I allowed my fear of losing you to turn me into a tyrant.”
“You’re not a tyrant.”
Kia curled an arm around his stomach, desperate to hold himself together. “You were just clinging to the memory of your sister. My mother.”
“Is that what you think?”
Xavier sounded shocked.
“Yes,”
Kia whispered. “You always reminded me of how much I look like her.”
“Only because I wanted you to feel close to your mother, pulsante,”
he said. “Kia, I see you for who you are, not a ghost of a sister I lost. Se credi a questo, allora ti ho deluso .”
“ You’ve never failed me, Xavier,”
Kai said. “I am who I am because of you.”
Xavier chuckled softly. “Stubborn, headstrong, and determined no matter what. How could I be mad when I raised you in my own image?”
“Are you?”
Kia picked at a spot on the table with his nail. “Mad at me? Am I banished?”
“ Togliti quelle parole di bocca !”
Xavier snapped. Take those words out of your mouth! “The Fortelli blood flows through your veins, Kia.”
Sighing, he continued, “I’m not thrilled your cheetah chose a—”
He swore in Italian. “A wolf, but I would never turn my back on you. This is your home, come and go as you please.”
Kia’s eyebrows shot up, stunned at Xavier’s offer even though he despised wolves. “Can Suero come too?”
Xavier growled. “You’re pushing it, pulsante .”
He swore again. “I grant him permanent passage. No cheetah will touch him. You have my word. But only him!”
Xavier mumbled something under his breath Kia couldn’t catch. “Tell Jared to get home. His mother is beside herself with worry.”
Jared was still in Blackthorn? Kia curled in his lips, keeping his voice causal. “I will.”
“Cheetahs and wolves mixing,”
Xavier grumbled. “Jared’s cheetah better not choose a wolf too. I’m already going to have to air out the house when your mate leaves.”
“Xavier!”
Kia covered his mouth to stifle a laugh.
“What?”
Xavier asked. “It’s true. I said he’s got permanent passage. I didn’t say I liked it. Il mondo sta per finire .”
“The world is not about to an end.”
Kia rolled his eyes as he heard the front door opening. “I gotta go. Is it okay if Suero comes for Sunday dinner?”
“ This Sunday?”
Xavier snapped, biting out a curse. “Fine. I’ll make sure to put down a pee mat for him.”
Kai narrowed his eyes. “Do that and I’ll let it slip you take long, hot bubble baths.”
“What’s wrong with soaking in the tub?”
“With a towel around your head and candles flickering?”
Kia recalled the time he accidentally walked in on his uncle, shocked Xavier had candles burning, and was even humming some cheesy tune. He wished to god he could delete that image from his mind.
“You wouldn’t dare,”
Xavier snarled.
“No pee mat. Love you.”
Kia quickly hung up, picturing Xavier fuming on the other end.
He set his phone down and stood just as Suero walked into the kitchen, smelling like a rush of wind and wolf.
“Enjoy your ride?”
Kia asked as his mate swept him into his arms.
“Would’ve been better if I had a certain kitty cat hugging my back.”
With a playful growl, he kissed along Kia’s jawline.
“I’ll think about it.”
He was madly in love with his wolf, willing, but terrified, to try the whole motorcycle thing again.
One day.
Kia had to work up the nerve. Maybe attend a few therapy sessions, down a case of juice, and change his mind a thousand times.
“Why do I smell cookies on your breath?”
He grabbed Suero’s face and sniffed. “You stopped at Macey’s. Where’s my cookies?”
He started patting Suero down, making his mate laugh. “You forgot to check my pants, gatito .”
He wiggled his brows. “Never know what I could be hiding behind my zipper.”
He gently gripped Kia’s wrist and guided his hand to the front of his jeans.
Oh hell. Kia’s fingers flexed against the hard bulge, giving it a little stroke. The denim was soft under his fingers, helping his hand to glide smoothly. “Not exactly cookies.”
He flashed his mate a cocky grin.
Suero’s eyelids lowered slightly, eyes glowing amber while grinding into Kia’s hand. It was the sexiest hand grind he’d ever experienced. His cat purred and Suero’s wolf softly growled. “ Puedo encontrar algo mejor que hacer con esa boca .”
Kia remembered what that meant. I can find something better to do with that mouth. “Like what, elegido ?”
The glow in Suero’s eyes intensified. “Say that again.”
Wide smile, he gripped Suero’s cock tighter, saying the word painstakingly slow. “ Mi elegido .”
He yelped, caught by surprise when Suero knocked his hand aside to unbutton his pants and pull down the zipper. “Already close, carino . Wrap your soft lips around my cock and put me out of my misery.”
For a moment, Kia considered drawing this out, but the desperation in Suero’s eyes said playtime was over.
After grabbing the hand towel to place between his knees and the hardwood floor, Kia knelt, pulling his mate’s pants and underwear down with him.
Suero’s cock sprang free, hard and throbbing. Kia’s mouth watered, his own prick just as hard.
He ran his tongue over his lower lip, eyes fixed on Suero’s cock like it was the only thing that existed in the universe. He leaned in, brushing his cheek along the thick length, feeling the heat radiating off it. The soft scent of Macey’s kitchen clung faintly to Suero, vanilla and spice, mixed with the raw, musky undertone of his arousal.
He kissed the tip first, a gentle press of lips like a secret being shared. Suero hissed above him, one hand gripping the edge of the counter, the other buried in Kia’s hair.
“Don’t tease,”
Suero growled.
But Kia wasn’t ready to surrender the reins just yet. He licked a slow stripe from base to tip, swirling his tongue around the head, savoring the way Suero’s thighs tensed beneath his palms.
He opened his mouth, taking him in inch by inch, the weight familiar, the taste addictive. Suero’s hand tightened in his hair, hips rocking forward just a little.
“That’s it,”
Kia whispered against him, lips brushing sensitive skin before he took him in again. “ Mi lobo.”
Above him, Suero groaned, head falling back. That sound, deep, rough, wrecked, was everything Kia had wanted to hear.
Kia relaxed his jaw, letting Suero slide deeper until the head nudged the back of his throat. He breathed through his nose, proud of himself for how far he’d come. Literally and figuratively.
Suero’s thighs quivered on either side of his face, and that quiet growl rumbled again, vibrating straight into Kia’s chest. His wolf was barely holding back.
But Kia didn’t want him to hold back.
He pulled back slowly, tongue flicking across the slit, then sucked hard before taking him again, deeper this time, until Suero hissed out a curse in Spanish, the words curling through the air like heat lightning.
A bead of sweat rolled down Suero’s abdomen, catching the kitchen light. Kia pressed a kiss there, right beneath his belly button, then dipped lower to suck his balls, his hand working Suero’s shaft while the other pressed against the man’s lower back, keeping him close.
Suero was shaking now, trembling beneath the restraint he was barely clinging to.
“Kia…”
he gritted out, voice fraying like torn denim. “Fuck, baby, I’m not gonna last—”
Kia moaned around him, sending a vibration through Suero’s cock that broke something loose.
The next growl was primal.
And the hands in Kia’s hair tightened.
Kia’s hand slid down, wrapping around his own cock, fingers stroking in time with every deep thrust of Suero’s hips. The angle was perfect, the floor was cool beneath his knees, and his wolf’s low, broken moans filled every breath of air in the room.
Suero rocked into his mouth with slow, desperate thrusts, cock gliding over Kia’s tongue, thick and throbbing, tasting like heat and need. Kia’s eyes watered, but he didn’t pull back. He wanted this, needed this. He could feel Suero losing it, control unraveling with every roll of his hips.
Kia stroked faster, his own orgasm building sharp and tight. Suero’s hands trembled where they gripped his hair, his groans turning into rough curses and half-spoken pleas.
A growl tore from Suero’s throat. “ Gatito …fuck…I’m coming…”
Hot spurts hit the back of Kia’s throat, and he swallowed around his mate’s cock, moaning through it.
That moan sent him over.
Kia came hard, spilling across his hand, hips jerking as pleasure ripped through him.
Suero’s breath caught. “Shit… you came just from sucking me off?”
Kia pulled back, lips swollen and slick, then licked them slowly. “What can I say? I’m very motivated.”
Suero grinned, all wolf and wicked satisfaction, then swept him up from the floor like he weighed nothing at all. “You’re dangerous,”
he murmured, voice still rough from release.
Kia barely had time to breathe before Suero’s mouth claimed his—hot and deep, tongue sliding in with a hunger that stole every thought. Kia moaned into the kiss, fingers digging into his mate’s shoulders to hold on.
Suero’s hands gripped his ass, rough and possessive, pulling their bodies flush. He wrapped his legs around the wolf’s waist, chest pressed tight to Suero’s as the kiss deepened, messy and perfect. The hardwood floor forgotten, his knees a little sore, his cock still aching from release. None of it mattered when Suero touched him like this.
A breathless laugh escaped Kia between kisses. “I’m exhausted.”
Suero kissed him harder, voice a growl against his lips. “Then I’ll carry you.”
And from the way he held him, strong arms never wavering, Kia knew he meant it.
THE END