Chapter 26 Kaian
Kaian
The moment Soren takes Connall to the ground, Kaian’s heart begins to pound in earnest. The tension in the room had been there before Connall slipped out, leaving them all confused—an undercurrent Kaian wasn’t versed enough in this new Were culture to get.
But he’d have to be stupid—worse, blind to his own instincts—not to see that Connall meant something more to each of them.
Pack Alpha. Leader. It made sense to Kaian even though he’d met Connall for all of two minutes.
The older man exuded a dominance and sexuality that screamed “top” from every look, line, and pore. He was fiery hot, but for some reason, his aura screamed restraint in a way that hit Kaian’s libido hard.
And he had been—hard, that is.
Human and ignorant though he was, Kaian could still feel the same pull toward Connall as he had when he’d seen Soren or Quinn.
And then there was Isaac, his sweet, mercurial intellect shining out of him like a beacon, and Elias, with his steady gaze and quiet softness.
Kaian wanted to feel that pressed against him, hear him catch his breath the way he had in the kitchen, with Quinn all up in his space.
Quinn stops mid-laugh, stiffening a second before Soren yells the confusing, “He’s in rut!”
Isaac and Elias freeze mid-wrestle as the words seem to echo with some serious significance.
“Holy fuck,” Quinn groans. “Are you kidding me?” He’s got a hand braced against the patio door frame over Kaian’s head, but the other is pressed over his heart. “Bébé, I need you to go into the bedroom and lock the door.”
“What? No. What’s happening?” Kaian isn’t a damsel in distress, and he’s been taking care of himself for fifteen years. He’s not taking orders from anyone without some kind of explanation.
In the yard, Isaac is dragging Elias toward the two larger men, who are lying face down on the yellowing lawn. Connall is still except for the occasional bucking of his hips.
“Izzy! Wait. Stay back,” Elias is trying to hold him back with arms around his waist, but it’s a losing battle.
“Fuck that. He needs us, Eli. I’m not going to let him suffer.
” He drops to his knees beside Connall, and he’s running a hand through his sweaty hair.
“Besides, we’ve been waiting for him our whole lives.
I want this, and if you can get over yourself for five minutes, you will see that you do, too. ”
Elias opens his mouth to say something. In the past, he’s had to be the voice of reason.
It doesn’t take much for Kaian to figure out that this is how Isaac goes through life—everything dialed up to high intensity and maximum curiosity.
Kaian can admire that—he can actually see some of that need-to-know-now in himself.
But based on Quinn’s hand clasping his wrist and the sheer effort Soren is employing to keep the bigger alpha down, this isn’t a walk in the park.
“What’s happening?” Kaian asks.
“Get Kai behind a locked door!” Soren shouts.
Kaian isn’t sure if it’s the raised voices, Isaac’s proximity, or that Kaian is going somewhere that sets Connall off again. This time in earnest.
“I’m trying. Jesus-fuck.” Quinn turns to him then, takes Kaian’s cheeks in his big hands, and for a moment Kaian forgets he’s supposed to be listening and not staring into his new mate’s amber eyes.
There’s desire there, and Kaian gets the faintest whiff of expensive cherry cigars, the kind he’d sold to old farts at an exclusive men’s club in Paris when he’d been twenty-one.
Kaian’s cock kicks hard in his jeans, and he moans.
It’s loud between them, and Kaian tears his gaze away from Quinn’s to look at his mouth.
So full and soft looking. They’re moving, but Kaian isn’t thinking about his words, more focused on the idea of those lips on his belly or his throat.
Quinn had talked about leaving a mark before, and Kaian wants that now.
“Kai!” Quinn raises his voice a bit louder. The noises from the yard fade back in at the same time Quinn picks him up in a bridal hold and tears him away from the door.
His attention snags briefly on Isaac lying on his belly, talking to Connall.
“Stop! Hey, I want to know what’s going on. Listen here, Quinn—” He realizes he doesn’t know Quinn’s last name. Something he needs in order to give him the full-name treatment, and it’s terribly inconvenient. “What’s your last name?”
“What?” Quinn kicks open the smaller bedroom door and drops Kaian’s feet to the floor. Instead of letting him go completely, Quinn just pulls him in and holds him pressed close. He presses his nose deep into Kaian’s hair. “Lomax.”
“Oh. Quinn Lomax,” Kaian repeats the name, and it sears itself onto Kaian’s soul. “Nice.”
Quinn chuckles. “Why’d you need to know right now?”
It’s embarrassing, but he answers anyway just to hear Quinn laugh again. “I wanted to government-name you for emphasis, but I realized I didn’t know it. You know? Like your mom would?”
“Yeah? How’d you know my mama would do that all the time, eh? You psychic on top of everything else?” When Kaian hesitates, Quinn stops cold. “You’re not, right?”
“Not exactly. It’s complicated.”
“For real? What the fuck. You can read my mind, too?” When he releases him, Kaian is instantly cold. Only then does it register that he’d been rubbing his belly against Quinn’s erection. Now that it’s halfway across the room, he’s more than a little lonely.
Pulling the blankets off the bed, Quinn tosses them at Kaian. With a grunt of effort, Quinn slides the mattress off the box spring so he can lift it on its edge and shove it toward the door.
“No! I can’t read your mind or anyone else’s. Honest. But I can—”
Elias appears in the doorway. “We need both mattresses and all the clothes. Izzy has managed to get him on his feet. But one bed isn’t going to be enough.” His cheeks are bright red with what might be embarrassment or anticipation.
“What. Is. Happening?” Kaian says. There’s a burning urgency between his legs, but he’s also anxious. “Why is everyone acting like this is the end of the world? What is wrong with Connall?”
“Shit, you don’t know. Yeah. Okay. Uhh…here. Out of the way.” Elias pulls Kaian toward him, a gentle hand on his wrist. “Let Quinn by with that, and I’ll explain.”
“You got this, cher?” Quinn asks, but he’s already halfway out the door.
“Yeah, I’ll try. Go.” He shoos Quinn away and leads Kaian toward the naked box spring.
Once they’re seated, he throws a welcome arm over Kaian’s shoulders.
“You smell really good, you know?” The words are pressed in over Kaian’s ear, and as Quinn had done, he breathes deeply.
His shoulders drop a bit, too. “It’s like one of those expensive candles you get at gift shops. ”
It’s great that this hot boy thinks he’s hot too, but there is a loud scuffle in the living room and a tiny squeak. Curiosity has Kaian on his feet.
“Shit, sorry. You are hella distracting.” With an apologetic wince, Elias pulls Kaian back down on the box spring. “You should stay here.”
“What? No. Look, whatever y’all are doing out there, I want to do it too. We’re a…family, right? The six of us?” When Kaian meets his gaze, a gentle smile appears on Elias’s face. His glasses are smudged, but the lenses do nothing to hide that Kaian’s words have made him happy.
Kaian is rewarded with a soft press to his lips first, just enough to tease, followed by the slow, gliding stroke of Elias’s tongue.
Kaian makes a sound in his throat without meaning to, needy and high-pitched, and opens for him on instinct.
For one suspended moment, it’s gentle. Mouths hot and wet, Elias tasting him like he’s taking his time.
Then Elias’s hand slides into his hair. He guides Kaian’s head to the side, taking charge without asking.
Kaian groans and melts against him, his body going pliant all at once, and he gives a full-body shiver.
Hands sliding up to Elias’s shoulders, he digs his fingers in, kneading at the unexpected solidity there, working the muscle like a cat in heat, unable to stop himself.
Elias is built, dense and warm under his palms, and the realization sparks something feral in Kaian’s belly, a low thrum of want that makes his pulse jump.
This is what Isaac meant when he said Elias was a good kisser.
Elias doesn’t just kiss. He takes. Teeth and tongue, pressure and heat.
He kisses with his whole self, mouth hungry and confident, like this is the last time he’s ever going to get Kaian’s taste on his tongue.
Kaian had clocked Elias Durand as cautious, methodical, and shy, but this?
This is wild. This is instinct and appetite, restraint snapping clean through.
Elias sucks on his tongue, hard enough to make Kaian gasp.
The sensation shoots sparks straight to his dick, and his hips twitch helplessly, a small, humiliating jerk he doesn’t even try to stop.
For half a heartbeat, he’s thinking about dropping to his knees, opening his mouth wider, and letting Elias fuck his face until he can’t think at all.
Elias yanks him back by the hair.
It’s sharp and perfect, a bright streamer of pleasure that zings through every cell in his body, lighting him up from scalp to toes. Kaian cries out the sound torn straight from his chest before he can swallow it down.
“Fuck. Kai.”
The way Elias says his name makes his stomach flip, heat pooling low and heavy. Elias dives back in immediately, biting at Kaian’s mouth, his fist winding tighter in Kaian’s hair like he’s claiming him, like he wants Kaian right where he is.
“Eli!” Quinn growls as he passes by the door again, this time with the second mattress. “Don’t you have a job to do?”
“Wha—” He tears his lips away and abruptly releases Kaian’s hair. “Fuck.”
Fighting the urge to dive back in, Elias rests his forehead against Kaian’s, breathing him in.
“Eli, I need…” Kaian had been without real, genuine touch for so long. The need was more than just sexual.