25. Harley
Harley
As soon as Val shuts the bedroom door behind us, he hustles me toward the huge bed in the center of the room.
“God, you have no idea how much I need you right now.”
The raw hunger in his voice sends heat racing through me. Knowing Marcus and Nathan were probably fucking—or doing something on that plane—seemed to affect Val as much as it did me. The second we got behind a closed door, all that need exploded between us.
“Hurry,” I urge, kicking off my shoes. “Just get it out. That’s all you gotta do. Get your cock out for me.”
My own desperation only makes things worse. Or better.
Val is panting by the time he frees himself, and I shove my jeans down as fast as I can before dropping to my knees and bending over the side of the bed.
Apparently, Val has other ideas.
“Strip it all off,” he orders.
I grumble, because I’m already ready and waiting, but I do it anyway. Val strips too, and the reward comes in the form of a kiss so deep and possessive it makes me whimper and cling to him.
The next thing I know, I’m on my back on the bed with Val stretched over me.
Then he starts licking the place he marked the first time he took me.
“Ah, please, mark me again,” I beg, gripping his head and pushing him toward the sensitive spot. “Now. You can do it now and make me come. I swear, I’ll be ready to go again in no time.”
The sound that comes from him is almost a growl.
A second later he rolls, taking me with him until I’m sprawled on top of him. The moment our erections brush together, he bites.
I yelp and grind helplessly against him. The pleasure is too much, too sharp, too perfect.
I thrust against him over and over until release crashes through me. Warmth spills between us, easing the friction, and my movements slow while Val sucks at the place he marked, drawing another moan from me.
He’s so close himself, I can feel it. Finally he releases my skin and pushes lightly at my shoulders.
“Ride me, honey. Fuck yourself on my dick. Take what you want from me.”
I sit up and roll my hips against him.
“Spread some of my cum on your cock.”
Val obeys immediately, coating himself before reaching for more.
“No more,” I tell him, catching his hand. “I’m gonna feel this. Really feel it.”
I wrap my fingers around him and lower myself.
The sensation steals my breath.
Heat.
Pressure.
The slow, deliberate stretch as my body takes him in.
“Ah, yeah, babe,” I gasp. “Fill me up.”
Every inch makes me tremble.
Val’s hands move over me, stroking and exploring, making it harder to think. By the time I settle fully in his lap, I’m shaking.
“Harley.”
His voice is rough.
I open my eyes and look at him. The affection I find there hits me harder than anything else.
I move.
Rise.
Lower.
Again.
Again.
Again.
The rhythm takes over until all I can do is ride him and chase the pleasure building inside me. My body feels too tight, too hot, every nerve ending focused on him.
Then Val catches me. One strong forearm pins me in place.
He thrusts upward once. So. Fucking. Deep.
The next second he rolls us over. I barely have time to gasp before he’s moving, all restraint gone. The intensity of it tears a cry from my throat. Everything inside me tightens. My body is already trembling, already losing the fight.
Val drives me higher and higher until the pressure becomes unbearable.
Then it breaks.
I cry out as release crashes through me. The pleasure rips straight through my body.
Val follows a heartbeat later. I feel him shudder above me, hear the broken sound he makes as he reaches his own climax.
For a few endless moments neither of us can do anything except cling to each other. Eventually Val eases back and collapses beside me. I turn onto my side immediately, curling against him.
Exhausted.
Boneless.
Completely content.
And for the first time since we arrived, everything feels right.
I murmur something and curl up beside Val. For a little while, we sleep.
Eventually, I’m dragged out of it by the faint sound of tapping.
Val rolls over, and I blink blearily toward the door just in time to see Nathan peeking inside. Nathan blushes, but instead of backing out and shutting the door like any normal person would, he walks in.
And of course, Marcus follows him.
“You should lock the door.” Nathan stops and fans his face. “Wow. I’m, uh, kinda turned on, Marcus.”
I roll onto my back, open one eye, and promptly shriek.
“What the fuck!”
My panic seems to kick Val’s brain into gear. He bolts upright and grabs the blanket, managing to cover the most important bits of me, which is more than I can manage because we’re practically tangled up in the damn thing.
“Maybe this will be lesson enough for you to remember the lock next time,” Marcus says.
He sits on the bed right beside Val’s hip whilst Nathan practically sits in Marcus’ lap.
“We’ll leave if you’re too uncomfortable,” Marcus continues, “but please believe that, while we are definitely enjoying the view, neither of us would be inclined to do more than look, any more than either of you would. The whole mate thing, once the bond is established, kind of prevents cheating. Which doesn’t make us any less jealous or possessive. You’d think it would, though. Huh.”
Marcus scoots down slightly.
I’m too stunned to do much besides stare.
“What is it?” Val asks me.
I blink.
“I was just wondering if that means we can barge in on you and Nathan. I mean, if your door is unlocked, is that an invitation?”
I don’t even wait for an answer.
“Because I’m not sure how I feel about that. Even if, like you said, nobody’s going to be sleeping with anybody except their mate. I’m torn between being freaked out and totally turned on.”
“Eh, we usually lock our door,” Nathan says.
“But our species tends not to be so uptight, you know. Like when we go for a pack run, lots of times there’s wolves mating, people mating, and nobody is doing anything wrong.
We’re just not as prudish, I guess. That took me some getting used to, but now it’s, er, interesting. ”
He points at us.
“But that’s honestly not why we barged in here. We needed to talk to you both and figured the whole bed-shaking stuff would be done with.”
“It is,” Val says. “And if it hadn’t been, I think the visit might have killed it off anyway.”
Nathan gives him a thumbs-up.
“Got it. An unlocked door doesn’t mean come watch.”
“Right.”
Val climbs out of bed and finds a pair of shorts.
I’m grateful for that because I’m still trying to recover from the shock of finding Marcus and Nathan standing in our bedroom.
“You want clothes, honey?” Val asks.
“Please.”
He digs through our bag and tosses me a pair of sweats and a T-shirt. I get dressed as quickly as possible.
“Okay,” I say once I’m decent. “Is this about the medical treatment?”
“Yes, it is.”
Marcus reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small pill bottle.
“This is something a doctor, a shifter doctor in Amsterdam, used as a miracle cure. He said it fixed just about everything on a shifter, and when we thought Adam wasn’t healing fast enough, the doctor gave him one of these pills.
Adam healed, all right, and quicker than most shifters I know, but he also had a painful and unwanted conversion into a shifter. ”
Val frowns at the bottle.
“What the fuck is in those things?”
Marcus shakes it.
“That’s the gross part. What’s in here is, I’ve been told, the ground-up bits of an ancestor of Matamesius, who, according to legend, was the first shifter.”
I gag.
Val looks like he wants to.
“That’s...that’s an old, old dead guy in capsule form?”
“So I’m told, and I believe it.”
Marcus shakes one capsule into his palm and holds it up to the light.
The orange-colored shell almost seems to glow.
Marcus rolls the capsule between his fingers, watching the strange amber glow inside it.
“We didn’t go to Amsterdam looking for miracle cures,” he says quietly. “Nathan and I were there because of a situation involving Gabe and Mika. What started as a mate dispute turned into something much larger.”
Nathan shifts beside him, his expression sobering.
“A lot larger,” he mutters.
Marcus nods. “A newly turned human named Todd nearly died. His mate, Adam, nearly lost him. Then Adam was turned himself. There were challenges to authority, questions about European leadership, old alliances being tested.” He exhales heavily.
“For a few days, it felt as if half the continent was one bad decision away from chaos.”
Harley frowns. “And now?”
“Now things are as stable as they can be, given the circumstance,” Marcus says, though there is something in his voice that makes me think stable doesn’t necessarily mean safe. “The immediate crisis is over. Good people are where they need to be. The right decisions were made.”
Nathan snorts softly.
“For once.”
Marcus glances sideways at him, then his focus comes back to me.
“But the whole experience reminded me how quickly things can change. One rogue shifter. One ambitious alpha. One frightened newly turned human. That’s all it takes to start a disaster.”
His gaze shifts to Ryder for a moment.
“Which is one reason Drake concerns me.”
“And another reason we’re not dismissing this medicine out of hand,” Nathan adds quietly. “If we’d had it sooner, Todd might have suffered less. If we hadn’t had it at all, Adam might not have survived what happened to him.”
Marcus nods once.
“Adam took one of these capsules, and not only was he healed, he was turned. The pain was unbearable. He struck out at everyone unknowingly as he convulsed. He almost accidentally killed his mate. It’s been a very bad few days for us, and for Adam and Todd. Gabe and Mika too.”
He looks down at the capsule again.
“Which is why I’m being honest with you, Val. This isn’t something I would offer if I thought there was a safer alternative.”
For a moment Marcus studies the capsule in his hand before looking back at Val.