CHAPTER 5 THE COUGAR WHO SCOUTS #2
Eli's eyes widened slightly, understanding dawning. His wolf instinct clearly wanted to resist—alphas didn't submit, didn't surrender control. But he lowered himself onto the moss-covered ground, his muscles tense.
Jace straddled his hips, looking down at him. "You've been in control this whole time," he said. "Chasing me. Catching me. Even when you were asking permission, you were still the one setting the pace. I want to show you something."
"What?" Eli's voice was rough.
"What it feels like to surrender." Jace leaned down, his lips brushing against Eli's jaw. "What it feels like to let someone else take care of you."
A sharp inhale caught in Eli's throat. "Jace—"
"Shh." Jace kissed him slowly, thoroughly, his hands roaming across Eli's chest. "Let me do this. Let me show you."
He could feel Eli's internal struggle—the alpha instinct warring with curiosity and desire. Finally, Eli's hands came up to rest on Jace's hips, not controlling, just holding.
"Okay," Eli breathed. "Show me."
Jace smiled against his mouth. Then he began his exploration.
He kissed down Eli's jaw, his throat, feeling the rapid pulse beneath his lips. Eli's scent was stronger here, concentrated at the pulse points. Dark and wild and absolutely intoxicating. Jace's cat purred with satisfaction, recognizing this as theirs.
He moved lower, his mouth trailing across Eli's collarbone, down to his chest. Eli's muscles were tense beneath his lips, his breathing already uneven.
Jace took his time, learning every plane and angle, every scar and imperfection.
There was a long scar across Eli's ribs—old, probably from the pack collapse. Jace kissed it gently.
"What are you doing?" Eli asked, his voice strained.
"Learning you," Jace murmured against his skin. "Every part of you."
He continued his descent, his tongue tracing the lines of Eli's abs, the V of his hips.
Eli's cock was already hard, pressing against Jace's stomach, but Jace ignored it deliberately.
This wasn't about rushing to the finish.
This was about control—showing Eli what it felt like to be at someone else's mercy.
"Jace," Eli groaned. "Please—"
"Please what?" Jace looked up, meeting Eli's eyes. "Tell me what you want."
Eli bit back the first answer. Asking for things didn't come naturally to him. Alphas took what they wanted; they didn't beg.
"I want—" Eli stopped, clearly struggling.
"Say it," Jace encouraged, his hand sliding up Eli's thigh. "Tell me."
"I want your mouth on me," Eli finally managed, voice unsteady with need.
"Good," Jace said. "That's good. But you're going to have to be patient."
He kissed along Eli's hip bone, deliberately avoiding where Eli wanted him most. Eli's hands fisted in the moss beneath him, his entire body tense with restraint. Jace could smell his arousal, could feel the way Eli's cock twitched with every teasing touch.
"You like this?" Jace asked, his breath ghosting across Eli's length. "You like surrendering control?"
"I—" Eli's voice broke. "I don't know. I've never—"
"Never let anyone take care of you like this," Jace finished. "I know. But I'm going to. I'm going to make you feel so good, Eli. I'm going to make you forget everything except my name."
He finally, finally, wrapped his hand around Eli's cock, and Eli's entire body jerked.
"Fuck," Eli gasped.
"Stay still," Jace commanded gently. "Let me do this."
He stroked slowly, learning the weight and feel of Eli in his hand. Thick and hard and already leaking. Jace's mouth watered. He leaned down, his tongue flicking out to taste the bead of precome at the tip.
Eli's hips bucked involuntarily, and Jace pulled back.
"Still," he reminded. "Or I'll stop."
"You're killing me," Eli groaned.
"No," Jace said, smiling. "I'm teaching you."
He took Eli into his mouth slowly, just the head at first, his tongue swirling around the sensitive crown. Eli's hands came up to tangle in Jace's hair, not pushing, just holding on like Jace was the only solid thing in the world.
Jace took him deeper, inch by inch, until Eli was hitting the back of his throat. He held there briefly, breathing through his nose, letting Eli feel the tight heat of his mouth. Then he pulled back and did it again.
"God," Eli breathed. "Jace, that's—fuck—"
Jace established a rhythm, slow and deliberate, taking Eli deep and then pulling back to focus on the sensitive head.
His hand worked what his mouth couldn't reach, stroking in time with his movements.
Eli was falling apart beneath him, his careful control shattering with every pass of Jace's tongue.
"You taste so good," Jace murmured, pulling off for a breath. "I could do this for hours. Just keep you on the edge, keep you desperate."
"Please," Eli gasped. "Jace, please—"
"Please what?" Jace asked, his hand still stroking slowly. "What do you need?"
"I need—" Eli's voice was wrecked. "I need to come. Please let me come."
The begging did something to Jace—sent a bolt of heat straight to his own cock. This powerful alpha, reduced to pleading. Not because Jace was cruel, but because Eli trusted him enough to surrender.
"Not yet," Jace said, even though it cost him. "I want to feel you come in my mouth. I want to taste you. But you're going to wait until I say."
He took Eli deep again, faster now, his hand working in tandem with his mouth. Eli was close—Jace could feel it in the tension of his body, the way his cock pulsed against Jace's tongue. He pulled back, focusing on the head, his tongue pressing against the sensitive spot just beneath the crown.
"Jace," Eli warned, his voice desperate. "I can't—I'm going to—"
"Come for me," Jace said, taking him deep one more time. "Let go. I've got you."
Eli came with a broken shout, his entire body going rigid as he spilled into Jace's mouth. Jace swallowed, taking everything Eli gave him, his hand gentling on Eli's hip as the wolf shook through the aftershocks.
When Eli finally went limp, Jace pulled off slowly, pressing a soft kiss to Eli's hip before crawling up his body. Eli's eyes were glazed, his breathing ragged, his expression completely undone.
"That was—" Eli started, then stopped, clearly unable to find words.
"Good?" Jace supplied, smiling.
"Devastating," Eli corrected. He pulled Jace down for a kiss, not seeming to care that he could taste himself on Jace's tongue. "I've never—no one's ever—"
"I know," Jace said gently. "But I like having power with you. I like being the one calling the shots sometimes."
Eli's hand came up to cup Jace's face, his thumb stroking across Jace's cheekbone. "You're not submissive," he said, understanding dawning in his eyes. "You're equal."
"Yes," Jace said. "That's exactly what I am. What we are. Equal."
They lay there for several seconds, Jace's head resting on Eli's chest, listening to his heartbeat slow. The sun was higher now, warming the clearing. Birds sang in the trees above them. Briefly, it felt like they existed outside of time, outside of the complications waiting for them.
But reality couldn't be ignored forever.
"We need to plan," Jace said finally, sitting up. "Logistics. How to make this work."
Eli sat up too, his expression shifting from sated to strategic. "What do you need?"
"I'll report to my mother that I've discovered evidence of territorial expansion," Jace said. "That you're extending marks further west, and she should know. It buys me credibility and justifies more frequent scouting trips."
"Smart," Eli said.
"I'll meet you at the neutral cave every three days minimum," Jace continued. "Probably more often. We need to be careful about scent—I'll wash before returning to pride to avoid suspicion. And we need to establish signals."
"Signals?"
"Specific marks on trees indicating safe meeting times," Jace explained. "In case one of us needs to change plans or warn the other of danger. Three scratches means safe. Four means danger, stay away."
Eli nodded slowly. "And when this inevitably becomes known?"
"Because it will," Jace agreed. "My matriarch will eventually figure it out. When she does, there will be consequences."
"I'm not asking you to sacrifice your place in the pride," Eli said.
"But it might happen anyway," Jace replied. "I know that. I'm choosing this anyway."
Eli looked at him for one suspended breath, something complicated passing across his face. "I don't feel like I have the right to let you make this choice."
"You don't get to decide what I choose," Jace said firmly. "That's the whole point. I'm choosing you. I'm choosing us. Not because you claimed me or possessed me, but because I want this."
"Okay," Eli said finally. "Then we plan for all outcomes."
They spent the next hour working through scenarios.
What to do if Sarai discovered the bond before they were ready.
What to do if Kane's rival pack became a threat.
What to do if the pride and Eli's old pack allies came into conflict.
It was strategic planning, the kind of tactical thinking that came naturally to both of them.
By the time the sun reached its zenith, they had a framework. Not perfect, but workable.
"I need to go," Jace said reluctantly. "If I'm gone too long, questions will be asked."
They walked to the boundary together, moving through the forest with the ease of those who knew the terrain.
The kiss they shared at the territorial line was different from previous ones—it was a promise and a commitment.
They were crossing from passion into something more deliberate. Something with stakes.
"Three days," Jace confirmed. "The neutral cave at midnight."
"I'll be there," Eli promised.
They shifted—Jace to cougar form, Eli to wolf—and for several seconds, they stood facing each other across the boundary. Jace's cougar was smaller, more elegant, golden fur gleaming in the sunlight. But the intelligence in those amber eyes was unmistakable.
Eli's wolf was massive, dark gray and powerful, but there was something in his posture that wasn't purely dominant. Something that acknowledged Jace as equal.
Then Jace turned and disappeared into the western forest, heading toward pride lands. Eli watched until he was completely out of sight, then turned back toward his cave.
Three days felt like an eternity.
But as Eli made his way through his territory, he realized something had shifted. The fortress he'd built didn't feel quite so isolating anymore. The solitude didn't feel quite so necessary.
Because now he had something to come back to. Someone to come back to.
The silence no longer belonged to him alone.