Chapter Eleven
“My gods, Mal. Check this place out. Look at all this space.” Rocky could not believe what he was seeing when a uniformed doorman let them into Cyrus’s apartment. It was on the top floor. Of course it would be. It’s not like a gangster was going to have anybody living above him. Rocky secretly thought that Cyrus would be the type to live on the top floor anywhere, worrying if someone was living above him they might burrow through the floor from the apartment above and drop in on him while he was sleeping.
But he could not get over the sheer size and scale of the apartment that Cyrus called home in New York. “This guy must have mega bucks,” he said, running over to the wide expanse of windows. Windows was a relative term. It was a wall of glass, but Rocky didn’t see any catches or anything on it where any of the glass could be opened. Mind you, they were twenty stories up, so that was probably why. There was no balcony, so if anything opened it would be probably a health hazard. But the view was absolutely stunning.
Rocky had no idea where he was, no idea of the layout of New York at all. All he could see as he looked out was concrete buildings stacked around like boxes of various heights with lines for roads in between them and the general bustle of life in a busy city. Cyrus lived above it, and Rocky imagined him standing at the glass surveying it all. It was genuinely incredible.
Narrowing his eyes, Rocky caught a glimpse of water and then the Statue of Liberty far off in the distance. “Look Mal,” he said, pointing in that direction. “It’s actually there, we have to go there, we have to go there, it’s a touristy thing, right?”
“I probably could’ve looked a little sooner if you’d helped with the bags,” Mal said with a smile, dumping their bags on the floor and tipping the doorman, who quietly left. Rocky was pleased Mal came right over to him, sliding under Rocky’s outstretched arm and wrapping his arm around Rocky’s waist.
“It is beautiful,” Mal agreed. “I bet it looks even more incredible at night with all the lights on. And we get to enjoy all this luxurious living for three whole days.”
Their session with the doctor was quick and without any terrible surprises. The doctor agreed that a three-days stay in New York was a good idea, and made sure Mal had his number in case Rocky had any issues. He made an appointment to see them and discharge Rocky back to Doctor Farriday’s care in Arrowtown on Thursday.
That worked because it meant Mal could ring Ra and the others and let them know that they would be back in town on the Thursday without having to lie. He simply told Ra that the doctor just wanted to run a couple of final checks on Rocky on the Thursday, and then they’d be home.
“How are you feeling?” Mal asked.
Rocky looked down at his mate. “You always worry about me. I wonder if there’s ever been a time when you haven’t.”
“Worrying is my natural state and at the moment I’m worrying about you making a mess in this pristine space.” Mal had half turned, looking around the apartment. “Why is everything in this place silver gray?”
“Perhaps it’s because Cyrus is a shark?” Rocky suggested, turning away from the outside view. “Look, there are a couple of pops of color. He’s got a couple of little yellow cushions. I wonder what they’re for? They’re not big enough for a pillow. And there’s a huge red rug on the floor. I bet that’s to hide the gangster-made bloodstains,” he whispered to Mal, who started giggling.
“This place smells so clean, there’s no way Cyrus does anything untoward in here. Now stop it. You want to go and have a look around?”
“I actually just want to hold you.” Rocky swung Mal back toward the wall of windows again. “Look. Look at this view. Look at the opportunities.”
“Look at all that glass, all that concrete, and the cars,” Mal said. “Where on earth would anybody run around here? On the rooftops?”
“I’m sure they’ve got grass somewhere in New York,” Rocky said. “Don’t worry, I’m not thinking about moving here, it’s just...”
He took a deep breath. “I’m missing our home back in Arrowtown. I’m missing our friends. I’m missing my job. But just for a moment, isn’t it awesome to just stand here and look at what might have been? What we could have had?”
“From the little I’ve heard, I wouldn’t wish Cyrus’s life on anybody,” Mal said, but he did snuggle close. “Cyrus apparently had a difficult upbringing, and his relationship with Blade is not that good. Him and Ness, all they do is travel. I mean, would we really want that? We went through that phase when we were riding with Ra. I thought that got the travel bug out of your system. You seemed as keen to settle down as I was.”
“True, and it’s not like I want to leave Arrowtown,” Rocky said as he thought about it. “I mean, our work is important, and we don’t have mega millions behind us, although…I mean, I could probably afford us a cozy cottage somewhere that we could live in together, just the two of us. Maybe spend our days tending the garden? Do things like that.”
The shock on Mal’s face as he pulled away from him was delicious. “I’ve never seen you so much as pick up a spade. You are not the gardening type.”
“No, but I’m the perfect type to relax on a lounger, drink a beer and watch you do it though.” Mal was such fun to tease.
“I think the life we’ve got is pretty good, don’t you?”
Rocky nodded. “This place is a little weird, if you think about it,” he said, turning away from the window. “I mean, is that couch comfortable or just big, and I still can’t get over the cushions. They’re a definite afterthought. The big screen television – I’d love one of them, but yeah, this place is pretty sterile. Our place won’t be like this. I wonder…” Rocky snapped his mouth shut. But of course, Mal picked up on what he was thinking.
“You want to check out the bed don’t you? You want to see how big a bed a shark will have. Remember Cyrus is a great white."
“Yeah, you told me,” Rocky said. “But it’s not like he’s going to shift in his bedroom like you and I might be inclined to do.”
“I’m not sure Cyrus would approve if we started bouncing all over the furniture in our wolf forms.”
Arm in arm they made their way through the vast apartment. The illusion of space and minimalism was everywhere. The kitchen was beautiful, immaculately clean, but Rocky couldn’t help but think of the clutter in the house back in Arrowtown. There was always somebody in the kitchen cooking, music blaring from someone’s phone, kids running in and out. They checked in on a utility room and another pantry and then made their way down a long hallway where the bedrooms and bathrooms seemed to be.
Rocky stopped at the door of the guest bathroom, peering in. “My gods, check out the size of that bath. It’s like a swimming pool in the house.”
“That’s not a swimming pool.” Mal laughed. “It would only probably hold about…I don’t know…six people without everybody getting tangled up with each other.”
“Which means there’s more than enough room for you and me.” Rocky was determined to persuade Mal to hop in with him later.
Moving on, they found another two bedrooms that seemed functional enough. The beds were in both were very big, but at the end of the hallway was a massive set of doors leading through into the master suite. “I don’t even know if we should be in this one,” Mal said as Rocky opened the door and went into the room. “Look at how opulent this is.”
“Do you notice there are no personal possessions here at all? Do you think he had it cleaned out before he offered it to us?”
Mal shook his head. “From what I heard, when Nessie loaned us the plane, they were about to leave for Europe on Cyrus’s plane. They were making a few stops there, I think, visiting Cyrus’s casinos. Looking at this” - he waved at the clean tops on the dressers and the lack of shoes in the shoe rack - “I think Cyrus pretty much carries everything of any importance with him or maybe he keeps his personal items at his house in Las Vegas. I really wouldn’t know.”
“It all seems very weird to me.” Rocky thought about his own cluttered dresser top. “But yeah, okay. This is a huge bed. We should definitely get one like this.”
Dropping Mal’s arm, Rocky prowled around the huge wide circle. But Mal was shaking his head. “Why on earth would anybody want to sleep on a circular bed? I swear this thing” - Mal bounced his fingers on the covers – “this thing has barely been used. Look at it. The mattress barely moves when you press down on it.
“And look at how much actual sleeping space you’ve got. Barely the room of a queen size bed by the time you’ve cut off the rounded edges that wouldn’t fit even a man of my size. I’m not sleeping on the edge or curling around the edge just so you can sprawl out like a starfish.”
“I wouldn’t do that to you anyway,” Rocky said, prowling closer. “But now we’re here...”
“Yes, now we’re here.” Mal’s Adam’s apple bounced up and down.
The way he was looking at him – Rocky could see a mix of hope and anxiety and a whole heap of other emotions in Mal’s beautifully expressive eyes.
“Do you know how special you are to me? Do you know how long I’ve waited for this moment?”
Keeping his lips pressed closed, Mal just shook his head slightly.
“I have dreamed of you, I have wanted you, and I have cursed myself every day for decades, never understanding what it was that held me back.”
“I think we’ve already isolated a couple of those things – the curse and our memories for example,” Mal said.
He was always the logical one, and Rocky loved that about him, but he was aiming for romance…okay, giving his best attempt at being romantic. “When I think of heaven, I think of you,” he said.
“Did you go scrolling for romantic quotes on your phone this morning?” Mal tilted his head slightly, rubbing against one of Rocky’s hands.
Busted. “No. Yes. Maybe. Just a little bit. You were in the toilet a long time this morning.”
“Yes, well, my toilet habits are my business, and always will be. I had an awful lot of chicken wings to digest.” Mal laughed. “Are you ever going to kiss me?”
Rocky jolted at the question. He didn’t think Mal would ever ask. But he was quickly on board. “That’s all I’ve ever wanted to do,” he said. And then, because Mal was the logical one and he also took everything seriously, Rocky reckoned he’d better add some action to his words. Bending his head, he let out a sigh as Mal’s lips tilted up to meet his.
/~/~/~/~/
There was a brief moment when Mal thought he would probably overanalyze everything. Kissing was new to him, so he would need to think about it, process the sensations and the actions involved. But as Rocky’s lips met his, Mal just had time to register the warmth and the pressure behind those lips, the scrape of Rocky’s facial hair against his cheeks, the hard clasp of Rocky’s hands behind his back, holding him close, treating him as though he was something special.
Mal’s brain just stopped. There was nothing to think about, nothing to analyze. Mal was swept up in a gorgeous overload of feelings. The intense need to get closer to a person, just inhaling Rocky’s breath, while struggling to work out how he could breathe when Rocky’s mouth was pressed so firmly over his own. I have a nose, breathe through that.
Rocky made it seem so easy. After that initial meeting of lips he broke off, kissing against the edges of Mal’s mouth, kissing over his nose, kissing across his cheeks, tiny little pecks before diving back in to take Mal’s lips again. Mal had never felt so cherished or wanted.
It was a heady feeling, especially as the scent of Rocky’s arousal increased. Mal recognized the scent. He’d gotten used to it over the years. He never took it personally – Mal just accepted it was part of an alpha’s wolf’s nature. He’d never believed Rocky smelled that way because of him.
But it was more than the familiar scent. Now Rocky was free from the curse, the smell seemed deeper, more layered. The different scent tones were playing havoc with Mal’s senses and his wolf. For the first time in his life, Mal wanted to do things he’d only ever read about. That whole swept up in a passionate embrace, the pressing of bodies together in a tangle of limbs and kisses, just wanting to be lost in another person. It was as glorious as Mal had imagined.
Without thinking, Mal tugged Rocky’s shirt out from underneath of his waistband and slid his hands up Rocky’s back just enjoying the sheer pleasure, knowing he was able to do that now. Mal had always wanted to, had often thought of it, but he never believed he could. Now he could, so he did.
Rocky groaned. He clearly approved. “Mal, please tell me we can get rid of some clothes.”
Rocky’s voice had gone a full octave deeper - his tone sent a shiver of lust in Mal’s spine. He’d never understood it. He’d never understood the difference between having a hard cock - because that’s what he woke up with although it was usually gone by the time he’d taken his first pee of the day - and actually being aroused because of a living person. It was heady, overwhelming, and all Mal could do was nod.
Rocky took a step back and peeled off his clothes in double quick time. Mal took a few extra moments. He was still shy, but it’s not as though Rocky hadn’t seen him naked a hundred times before, usually when they were shifting.
But he was jolted from his arousal fog when he pulled down his pants, and quick as a flash, a naked Rocky went behind him and licked his ass.
“Rocky!” Mal spun away barely stopping himself from falling as he kicked off his pants. “What are you doing? Why do you always do that to me?”
Rocky looked up and grinned. “If I lick it, then it’s mine. You always used to say that about chicken wings. I’ve always thought that about your butt even before I knew we were mates.” Sweeping Mal’s feet off the floor, Rocky tossed him into the middle of the circular bed.
“I licked this, so it’s mine.” Rocky climbed up onto the mattress, licking along Mal’s foot, and then his knee, and then the edge of his hip. “I’m licking all this, so that makes those bits mine.”
“Rocky, please.” Mal wanted to squirm away and cover himself, but Rocky’s joy was contagious.
“What?” Rocky said, wiggling his eyebrows. “That’s the rule. You said so.”
“I said that was the rule when you licked that piece of sushi and then decided you didn’t like it, so you tried to stick it on my plate. That was years ago. I never thought that would apply to parts of my body.”
“I think it does.” Rocky looked perfectly happy taking little licks all over Mal’s skin.
Flopping his head back, Mal shook it. Experience told him that there were a few times when it really didn’t do any good to argue with Rocky. Rocky had a very set way of thinking about things, a unique way of looking at life. And secretly, Mal liked the fact that Rocky believed they belonged to each. Although…
“Did you have to lick under my armpit?” Mal gave a shiver as he clamped his arm against his torso. “That tickles.”
“Ooh, tickly time,” Rocky said, his eyes gleaming. “That could be fun later.”
“No, I don’t think it will be.” But Mal’s intended words were swallowed as Rocky took his lips again and there was so much more than licking involved in the clash of teeth and tongues, the smashing of lips together. Mal couldn’t get close enough, but he was trying.
Rocky was rolling them one way and then the other, as if seeking to get the most sensation through their skin. Mal went with it - something he had never done. He had always thought things through, he had always analyzed, he’d always tried to keep himself and Rocky safe.
But on the stupid round bed Mal didn’t have to because Rocky was holding him, mapping out his body with his hands, sending tingles down Mal’s spine so much he thought his balls were going to explode.
“Rocky, I don’t understand what’s going on inside,” Mal gasped as their lips shot apart so they could take a quick breath. “These feelings are too much.”
“We’re just beginning,” Rocky said, and before Mal could blink, Rocky had scooted down, taking Mal’s cock in his mouth. The sudden blast of heat, the moistness of Rocky’s tongue, and the graze of Rocky’s teeth against his length were all too much. Mal’s body was thrown into orgasm, his back arching, his fists clenched as his spunk shot down Rocky’s throat.
“What…what…” Mal could barely breathe. “Did you…did you want me to do that for you?”
“Oh, no precious, I’ve got something else in mind for you.” Rocky let out a long groan. “Can you smell that?”
Mal sniffed. He thought he smelled something sweet over their joint arousal. “What’s that? Have I suddenly developed a case of sugary farts? Is that part of the curse?” Mal felt a shaft of fear zing through his heart.
“That’s not the curse, my gorgeous mate.” Rocky’s voice got even deeper. “That delicious scent…oh, my gods I’ve never smelled anything so enticing. That is your omega body preparing to receive your mate.”