Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
[RONAN]
Ronan didn’t miss the hint of sadness that tinged the air when he’d mentioned his packmates to Harlem. He cupped Harlem’s face, melting a little when the sweet man nuzzled against his palm.
“Why does that make you sad? You’re welcome to visit my pack, you know. There’s no rule that says otherwise.”
Some packs were particular about who visited pack lands, but Ronan was pretty relaxed as long as he was informed first. And none of his pack would complain about him bringing a date home.
He was pretty sure the nosy members of his pack would demand it once they found out he was seeing someone.
He hadn’t mentioned it yet because he’d wanted to savor his alone time with Harlem before inviting his pack in to meet the sweet man.
It was selfish of him, his pack was his family and he didn’t generally keep secrets from them, but something about Harlem made him want to keep the man close.
Shaking his head, Harlem leaned into Ronan’s touch when he ran his claws through the strands of fiery copper hair.
“It’s not that. I just… The idea of coming home to family sounds kind of nice.
I’m not close with my family. They’re not unkind or anything, they’re just…
busy. I don’t see them that often.” He forced a smile, though it didn’t meet his eyes.
“That was why I was so upset about that orc trying to steal my bag. It was given to me by my parents the last time I saw them. Losing it felt like losing that connection to them and it hit me harder than I expected.”
Ronan felt a growl rise in his throat he had no hope of hiding.
From what it sounded like, Harlem was all alone in the world.
Ronan couldn’t abide by that. Such a sweet man shouldn’t be left to fend for himself.
He bit back the comment, refusing to say the words out loud.
The few dates they’d been on, Harlem had come off as capable and determined to do things on his own.
It was admirable. He didn’t want Harlem to think he thought he couldn’t take care of himself.
He just didn’t think he should have to. He deserved to be taken care of.
“I’ll introduce you to mine sometime soon,” Ronan promised as a compromise. “They’ll love you.”
Harlem’s cheeks turned a light shade of pink, his amber eyes looking up at Ronan with so much trust and acceptance, Ronan nearly invited him to join his pack after only three dates.
His instincts were screaming at him to claim the gorgeous man and make sure he always felt wanted, and he had to distract himself with drying off before he did anything crazy.
Once he felt like he was relatively dry, he draped the towel over one shoulder, jerking his chin toward the hallway behind him with one hand on Harlem’s hip. “Want to show me around?”
The scent of lust that had perfumed the air at the restaurant came back in a rush and Harlem bit his lip, nodding rapidly without looking away from Ronan’s eyes.
Ronan felt a smirk pull at his lips as he leaned down, pressing his nose into Harlem’s neck and drawing in a lungful of his scent.
He smelled like cherry blossoms and spring rain, along with the heady smell of lust. Ronan could easily get addicted to the scent if he wasn’t careful.
Harlem let out a little whimper, fingers digging into the fur on Ronan’s chest as he lifted onto his toes in a bid to get closer. Ronan’s hand slid around him, his palm easily spanning his back as he pulled the smaller man against his body.
“Harlem… Show me where your bedroom is.”
He could tell with the way Harlem’s eyes were locked on his mouth when he pulled away that he wanted a kiss, but Ronan also felt the way his instincts were threatening to take over.
If he kissed Harlem here, he’d end up taking him against the wall, and the beautiful kitsune deserved to be bedded properly.
They moved together, neither willing to separate even a few inches to get to their destination quicker.
Harlem kept making needy sounds, gasping whenever Ronan’s tongue snuck in a little lick against his skin.
He was practically trembling when the light flicked on and they stumbled into Harlem’s bedroom.
Only once he saw their destination in sight did Ronan give into the urge to claim Harlem’s mouth.
Their tongues tangled and Harlem practically climbed him to get closer, moaning against his mouth when Ronan grabbed a handful of his ass and pulled him up so the smaller man didn’t have to stretch so far to reach him.
He’d just laid Harlem on the comforter when the light flickered and went out.
Looking up with a frown, Ronan noted that the hall light was out too. “Power outage?”
Little flecks of fire popped up around them, like fireflies dancing through the room. Harlem’s magic. Ronan looked down at the disheveled man beneath him, grinning at the way he bit his lip and blushed.
“Let’s see how long you can keep that up with me distracting you.”
The responding moan made his cock swell. Something told him it wouldn’t be that hard to distract Harlem like this. That was fine. Werewolves had excellent senses, even in the dark.
With that goal in mind, he set to work stripping the beautiful man beneath him, teasing him with little licks and nips that made him moan and gasp.
When his tongue slid along the crease where his thigh met his groin, Harlem’s fingers delved into the fur on his head, tugging lightly in a silent demand.
Ronan grinned, turning his head to lick a wide swath up Harlem’s length.
The responding cry was music to Ronan’s ears.
He didn’t do it again, from the sounds he was making, he felt like Harlem was close to coming already. Instead, he laid on his belly, moving lower to tongue Harlem’s balls and delve between his cheeks.
“Oh, gods!” Harlem cried, writhing under the assault of Ronan’s tongue. When he licked inside to prep him properly, Harlem’s hips popped up and Ronan had to settle him with a hand on his stomach to keep him in place. “Yes, yes, yesyesyesyes!”
Ronan’s own cock was making demands, but he ignored it, enthralled by the sounds Harlem was making and the way he couldn’t seem to sit still even with Ronan holding him down. If the kitsune got any more perfect, Ronan wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to let him go.
“Ronan, please!” Harlem sobbed, tugging at his fur again.
With a hum of pleasure, Ronan sat up to get his jeans off, chuckling when Harlem climbed into his lap the moment he was naked.
The little flecks of flames in the room were disappearing little by little, Harlem’s concentration completely on Ronan instead.
As much as he admired Harlem’s determination to take charge, he knew it was best if Harlem was on his back.
He didn’t want to accidentally knot the man.
Twisting to put the gorgeous kitsune beneath him again, he took hold of the man’s slender wrists, pulling them over his head and pinning them gently to the mattress.
Harlem didn’t seem upset by the position, moaning wantonly as Ronan moved over him and notched the head of his cock against Harlem’s hole.
“If it's too much, tell me. I’ll stop.”
A flash of something that almost looked like a scowl crossed Harlem’s face, like he hadn’t appreciated the insinuation, but it was gone just as quickly as it came, his mouth falling open and delirious lust taking over his face as Ronan pushed inside.
“Ngh, you’re so sweet,” Ronan growled, his eyes rolling back at the feel of Harlem’s body wrapped around his cock.
He shifted his hips back, sliding in a little deeper, and gritted his teeth against the urge to let go and pound into the smaller man beneath him when Harlem started begging, his heels digging into Ronan’s ass in a demand for him to get closer.
“Ronan, Ronan! Please!”
“Anything you want, sweetheart. It’s yours,” he growled, driving his hips faster, deeper, until he was rutting against the smaller man, the both of them making animalistic sounds as they edged closer to release.
His knot pounded against Harlem’s hole, teasing him with the promise of mind numbing pleasure if he just went a little deeper, a little harder.
He barely held himself back, reaching to stroke Harlem’s cock in a desperate bid to get him off before Ronan lost control.
The added pleasure made Harlem cry out, nearly arching off the bed, and when his body clamped around Ronan’s cock, Ronan released him and fisted his knot tightly, bellowing as he came so hard, he saw stars.
Rolling off Harlem so he wouldn’t squash the smaller man, he dragged him against his side to keep him close, both of them panting like they’d run a marathon.
“That was…” Harlem began, his voice as awed as Ronan felt.
“Yeah,” he agreed, tightening his grip on Harlem just a little more.
He felt a little like he’d made a mistake.
He’d intended to take things slow. Harlem was independent and he didn’t want to seem demanding.
Now that he’d felt what it was like to be wrapped up in him, there was no way he could let this gorgeous perfect man out of his sight now.
[HARLEM]
A little lick to his cheek made Harlem smile into his pillow.
Ronan had spent nearly every night with him that week, leaving him only long enough to work and handle pack matters before he came back and they went out together.
Harlem felt kind of bad, packs were close and he was monopolizing Ronan’s time, but Ronan had yet to complain, especially after what happened with Dorian.
When Harlem had called him crying and told him what happened—how Dorian had rejected his blood and attacked his new secretary, nearly killing the poor man—Ronan had literally dropped everything to pick him up and spent the whole night cuddling him until Harlem could finally close his eyes without seeing his friend go feral.
Ronan still walked him to class every day, taking time out of his work to make sure he got there safely, and picked him up again after his classes were done.
Harlem had seen a few of his packmates around when they were walking home, they passed by Ronan’s office building every day, but Harlem hadn’t been introduced to them yet.
He was a little worried Ronan wasn’t ever going to introduce him.
He’d said once that he would, but then he never brought it up again.
If he wanted to, he would have already, right?
Peeking over the edge of his pillow, he watched Ronan get ready in the dark.
He spent the night, but had to get up just before the sun came up in order to get back to pack land, shower, and get ready for the day in time for him to get to the office.
It would be easier if they stayed on pack land, but Harlem felt awkward inviting himself when Ronan hadn’t offered.
Like he could feel Harlem watching him, Ronan looked over his shoulder, smiling at Harlem in that way that always made his belly flutter and his heart to skip.
He pulled his work polo over his head, moving to the edge of the bed so he could nuzzle the back of Harlem’s neck and take in a big whiff of his scent.
“Mmm. You smell like me,” Ronan growled appreciatively.
Blushing brightly, Harlem hid his face in the pillow.
That was because when they weren’t out on dates, they were all over each other.
He had a persistent ache from being stretched around Ronan’s cock so frequently, but he refused to take a healing potion for it because he liked the little reminder throughout the day.
“I’ll be back later to walk you to class,” Ronan murmured, pressing a kiss on top of Harlem’s head. “See you soon.”
Harlem’s ears flicked, following the sound of the gorgeous werewolf as he tip-toed out of the room.
He glanced up when the door clicked shut and let out a heavy breath when the steady presence that filled the room whenever Ronan was there disappeared.
He was both relieved and he wanted to cry at the same time.
The apartment felt more empty than usual whenever Ronan left, but hiding parts of his personality was getting exhausting.
His body told him to go back to bed, Ronan had worn him out the night before and he needed more sleep, but he hated waking up alone and decided he’d rather be tired than face that particular torture more than once this week.
He forced himself to sit up, frowning at the wall for a long moment before his brain decided to supply him with enough energy to get up fully.
He was pouring himself a cup of coffee when he remembered he hadn’t checked in with Dorian in a while.
He didn’t technically need to anymore, Dorian could only feed from Kian for some reason the doctors couldn’t seem to figure out.
But Dorian was more than just his contract.
They were friends and he worried about him.
He got dressed, his focus on his phone as he texted back and forth with his friend.
At least this forced rest meant that Dorian no longer ignored his messages.
And he sounded more upbeat than he had when everything went down.
Little improvements were better than nothing.
He was just asking to visit to check on Dorian and Kian when someone knocked on the door.
He went to answer it, but didn’t look up until the door was halfway open and he remembered what he was doing.
He was really too tired to function properly today.
Three werewolves stood outside his door, all frowning at him. The middle one crossed his arms, his expression concerned when he demanded, “How often do you open the door without looking at who’s visiting? That’s dangerous, you know.”
Blinking up at them, Harlem cocked his head. “Are you… in Ronan’s pack?”
“Yup,” the middle one nodded with a big grin. “We’re here to kidnap you.”
“You– What?!”