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When Doc slowly slid a finger into him, Jake groaned good and loud.

That’s for another day, Doc told him. Then he licked a trail from Jake’s hole and over his taint, reaching his balls. He took one of them into his mouth and sucked on it, and his thoughts left Jake under no illusions that Doc was loving every second.

Doc’s gaze met his, the laugh lines around his eyes so prominent.

No one appreciates balls like a gay man.

Jake was inclined to agree. He pulled harder on his cock, chasing the sensations that trickled through him, lighting him up like electricity, zapping through his sac, along his dick….

Doc’s mouth closed around both his balls, and Jake came, spurt after spurt that coated his stomach and thigh, each pulse as delicious as the one before it. The slow tongue that cleaned away every trace of come was the perfect ending.

No, scrap that.Doc’s kiss as he shared the taste of Jake was the only way to end Jake’s first consensual sexual experience in more than thirty years.

They lay together under the sheets, holding each other, Jake’s heartbeat returning to its usual rhythm.

Then he became aware of the silence.

“Doc? You okay?”

Doc sighed. “I’m sorry, that was incredibly selfish of me.”

“You’ve lost me. I got to be on the receiving end of a blowjob, I got to come,youdid all the work… how is that selfish?”

He sat up. “You were a prisoner for thirty years. They forced you to breed. I said you needed to get yourself right before we moved on to sex. That taking it slow was okay. And then I go and—”

“And take my breath away with the sweetest, most unselfish act ever.” Jake arched his eyebrows. “If I hadn’t wanted you to do it, I would have said so. Have you ever thought that maybe I needed tofeelagain? To know the person worshipping my dick was doing it because helovedme?” Jake sighed. “And if we’re telling the truth, I was so nervous. As soon as your lips touched the head of my cock, I was right back there.” He took Doc’s hand. “There was a difference, though. Ahugefucking difference.” Jake looked him in the eye. “Youweren’t drugged.Youweren’t a nameless, faceless person.Youweren’t doing it to get food.” He smiled. “You were doing it out of love, and as your mate, I recognized that. I reveled in it. Am I ready to go further?” He shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know. Idoknow I’m going to talk to the therapist, like we said, but I think the love of my mate—of you—is helping to soothe the broken bits inside me. Or at the very least, helping to stitch them back together into a semblance of the man I used to be. The one I want to be again.”

Doc cocked his head to one side. “I caught a fragment of a thought a moment ago,” he confessed. “Maybe it’s something you don’t want to discuss, but—”

“I can’t think of anything I would keep from you,” Jake confessed. “Especially after what you just did. So… what did you want to know?”

“The Gerans captured you thirty-one years ago. Was… was there no one in all that time you could have formed a relationship with? Another prisoner?”

For a moment, Jake said nothing. At last he sighed.

“When they took me in Rome, I was a married man. As far as I was concerned, I wasstilla married man, right up to the point when Dellan told me Miranda had died. And every time they shoved me into a cage with another shifter, I fought to get free. My vows mattered, and they didn’t give a fuck about them. So why would I take up with another woman? My wife was still out there with our son, not knowing what had happened to me.” His throat seized.

“You’d been gone a long time when she finally remarried, hadn’t you?”

Jake nodded. “I’m glad she got a second chance to find some happiness. The guy she married sounded as if he was all right. He took care of her and Dellan.” He stroked Doc’s chest. “So no, I haven’t had sex like that since before I was taken. Every single fucking moment that took place after? Doesn’t count.” He cupped Doc’s cheek. “Feeling your emotions when we make love? That is….” Tears pricked his eyes.

Doc rolled on top of him and kissed him on the forehead, nose, chin, cheeks, and finally his lips. “You deserve a second chance too. Don’t forget that. It’s time to live again.”

Jake smiled. “And love again.”

His mind went back to the prophecy.

Who’s waiting out there for us?He no longer doubted therewassomeone perfect for them—he just wanted them to hurry up so the three of them could spend what time they had left together.

Tomorrow is never promised.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

“HE’S BEENgone for hours,” Aric whined.

Seth laughed. “He’s been gone thirty-eight minutes. I started the stopwatch the moment he left, because I knew you’d build it up in your head to be way longer. And let’s face it, they have a lot to talk about.”

Brick had asked for a meeting with Horvan, which had somehow grown into a Zoom meeting with Aelryn, all of which made Aric nervous.