Chapter 26 Kaian #2
“It’ll be okay. Just breathe. It’s the rut.” He sits back and increases the distance between them to a respectable arm’s length. It’s the opposite of what Kaian wants. “It’s ramping us all up.”
He chuckles and licks his lips, gazing at the neckline of Kaian’s borrowed shirt. “Come on, Eli. Focus, then you can get fucked.” He’s talking to himself, but Kaian thinks that’s an excellent idea.
He says so. “Yeah, okay. Tell me. What’s a ‘rut?’ And why is everyone so freaked out and so horny?”
Elias takes a deep breath, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose with his finger. It’s so sexy, Kaian gets distracted by the thought of Elias over him, floppy hair in his eyes, while his glasses slide down his very sexy nose.
“Hey, none of that, now,” Elias chastises.
“A rut is the twice-annual hormone cycle of an alpha Were. Biologically, it’s about fertility, but practically, it means an alpha will want to fuck and fuck and fuck for about three days.
He’ll be all about instincts, and when he has a bonded pack, it’ll be about keeping them safe and satisfied.
” He sounds wistful, and his eyes flash to the open door.
He must hear something Kaian can’t because he whines under his breath.
Kaian processes that for a minute. Connall is horny, and he’s not just thinking about getting off; he’s thinking about protecting them and making them come.
But Elias said, bonded. Kaian can feel there’s something special about these men, both individually and as a group. Add to it that he’s never been so aroused as he has been in the last twenty-four hours, and the whole thing feels addictive.
“Bonded? What does that mean?” Kaian asks. “And why is it affecting all of us like this?”
“Pheromones. Besides the fact that we’re biologically compatible with each other, alphas have intense pheromones—their bodies want us to want them as much as they want us.
And we aren’t bonded…not yet.” There’s a loud moan from the other room, and Elias puts his feet on the floor. “Fuck that’s Izzy. I gotta—”
Quinn comes into the room missing his shirt, and holy moly. Broad shoulders and a perfect chest with rounded pecs narrow into taut abdominals covered with bronze skin that seems to glow in the morning light. “Go, Eli. Just…be careful, yeah? He’s…”
He pulls Elias in and rubs his nose over his neck. “You still smell a little like me, little mouse. And like Kai.”
“Yes…want to smell like all of you…” He moans into Quinn’s chest, and he takes Quinn’s nipple into his mouth, sucking hard. “Come with me.”
“I can’t, cher. Someone needs to stay with Kai, and…I’m not ready.” He presses a kiss to Elias’s mouth. “But you are, yeah?”
Without hesitation, Elias grins. “Like Izzy said, we’ve been waiting. I’m nervous about—all the life stuff, but if Izzy is all in, then I have to be, too, you know? It’s been good so far.”
Quinn frowns, but he doesn’t look away. “Be careful. I think that he’s been without us so long that he’s not himself.” Quinn shakes his head with a snort. “Not that I know who the fuck that is. This just seems more intense. But Soren will keep you safe.”
“Will you come and watch? Even if you won’t—”
“We’ll see.”
“It can’t be easy to leave them. Are you sure?”
Kaian sees his hands clench into fists at his side. He sways as if Elias’s words had the power to move him back through the door.
“I’m sure. I’ll stay with Kai. Go.”
Elias smirks. “Ugh, hey, I didn’t get to the bonding part or the biting…”
Biting?
“You left the hard parts for me?”
“I’ll make it up to you!” Elias crows with a cute giggle, and he disappears out the door.
“Fuck he’s cute, right?” Quinn groans. “He has a great ass, too. And those glasses.”
“Yeah,” Kaian says, because all of that is true.
Quinn closes the door and takes a spot on the floor, his long spine pressed against the solid wood. He closes his eyes and leans his head back, taking deep breaths. It doesn’t seem to be helping.
“So. Bonds and bites, huh?”
“Yeah, okay.” Quinn pulls his knees up under his chin, fingers tightening briefly around his shins before he forces himself to keep talking.
“Weres like us live in packs usually. When we meet, we’re attracted, and there’s the urge to get to know each other better right away.
It’s not instant love or anything, but we’re compatible. ”
“Biologically. Elias explained that part.”
“Yeah, but we’re also supposed to be emotionally and psychologically compatible, too. Although I think there’s enough evidence in the world that would say that’s not always true.”
Quinn exhales through his nose, the corner of his mouth lifting like the idea isn’t new to him.
“Wow. Really? Like, if I like baseball, someone else in our pack will probably like baseball too?”
Quinn’s eyes go wide. “Do you like baseball?”
“No. Do you?”
Quinn snorts. “You’re hilarious. See? That’s what I mean. It’s about being compatible. You’re hot and funny. I like that a lot. You’ve also lived a life I want to know more about someday soon, but somehow you’re still innocent. And that pings all my instincts so hard.”
Kaian blushes. He’s been called na?ve before, but he’ll take funny and hot, too.
“Like I think you’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen, and you are so…
uh…cool. Like butter wouldn’t melt in your mouth.
You’re…um…” He searches for the right word, remembering all those romance novels he’s borrowed from libraries around the world. “Aloof, but also fiery underneath.”
It’s Quinn’s turn to be surprised. “You see all that? You like all that?”
“What’s not to like?” Kaian shrugs and drops to the floor so he can crawl toward Quinn. The larger man lowers his legs in invitation before he can even think about it. “We haven’t known each other long, but I already feel like we’re connected. Is that what a bond is?”
Kaian runs his hands up Quinn’s long legs, squeezing his thighs just short of where they meet his pelvis. The sharp cut of Quinn’s Adonis belt shows above his waistband, and his hard cock lies on his belly, the tip almost peeking out the top.
“Hell,” Quinn murmurs, eyes on Kaian’s kiss-red lips. He removes Kaian’s hands with his own and crosses his legs. “Hang on to that thought for a minute. Let me tell you what you’re getting into, and then you can decide, okay?”
Disappointment roils in Kaian’s gut for the second time, but he sits on his ass and mirrors his position.
“Yeah, okay, get on with it. I want you to fuck me, and then we can see what’s going on out there.”
Quinn sucks in a breath so fast he chokes on his own saliva.
“Jesus, bébé. Such a dirty mouth. I like that too.” He takes a deep breath and runs a hand over his face.
“Fine. Bonds begin when we meet. It’s to encourage us to get to the good stuff.
Solidify our relationship physically. Weres are really sexual.
More in tune with our bodies. It might seem like it’s about fertility, but it’s also about family. ”
“Pack, right? Like loyalty, connection. Belonging.” Kaian’s heart pounds again in his chest. These are the things he’s craved most in his lonely life, and now they’re on offer. “So we have sex, and then we’re a family? Mated, you said.”
“Yeah, that’s part of it. Sex is the catalyst, but a bite seals the deal.”
“Elias mentioned biting, too. Like kinky biting?” Kaian can’t help it; he whispers the last part, suddenly shy. He feels his cheeks pink, but he doesn’t look away.
Quinn groans, and his nostrils flare. “Don’t do that, bébé. Makes me want to hold you down, dirty you up, and make you cry a little.”
“Yes, please. Do that.” Kaian nods so fast his hair flies around his hot cheeks.
“This first. Then we talk.”
“We are talking. Hurry up!”
Quinn’s eyebrows go up at his show of temper, and he bares really long, really sharp, pointy fangs just like Soren’s had been in the alleyway.
Unable to resist, Kaian leans in closer to get a closer look, to maybe lick one to see if they’re as sharp as they look, and Quinn’s head snaps back so fast he hits it on the door.
“Hey, you said something to Soren in the alley behind All’s End. He’d been smelling me and then boom! teeth, but you stopped him,” he says, eyes narrowing as the pieces click together.
“I had to. You’re Human, and an alpha bite will turn you.” The words hang between them.
“I can be turned?” Kaian asks, breath catching despite himself.
Quinn nods. “But it’s against the law—or it is without legal proceedings. The consequence of turning a Human without consent or legal authority is death.”
“They’d kill me?” Kaian’s stomach drops to his toes, threatening to come right back up again.
“Not you. The alpha.”
Kaian doesn’t like the sound of that any better.
“Oh. That makes sense.” Weres couldn’t go around turning humans willy-nilly, or they’d figure out about Were existence pretty fast. “But you said biting has something to do with the bond?” Kaian scooches closer, pressing his own crossed legs to Quinn’s.
There’s a soft hand over the top of Kaian’s head, and then Quinn is pushing the hair out of his eyes.
“Weres cement the bond between them with a bite on their scent glands.” He runs a finger along Kaian’s throat, eyes fixated on his pulse there, before moving to his wrist. “Here and here. The backs of the knees, although I hear that’s unusual. ”
His voice has gone velvety deep, and those long fangs are still visible, pressing into his lush lower lip.
“That’s it?” Kaian whispers, afraid of breaking Quinn’s focus.
“There are scent glands in your groin, too.”
Kaian lets himself be distracted by the vision of Quinn’s long fangs sunk deep into the place where his thigh meets his pelvis, and his cock pinches uncomfortably in his jeans. But he’s never going to have that. Never going to feel the ecstasy he’s sure accompanies the gesture or the bond.