Page 6 of Enforcer’s Little Warrior (Little Paws Haven #3)
Bash
Groaning, Bash nipped his mate’s lower lip and nibbled along the edge, kissing the corner of his mouth before slotting their lips together completely and swiping his tongue along the seam, urging Romy to open for him. When his mate’s lips parted and Bash got his first taste of Romy, all he wanted was a way to stop the universe, so they could stay like this, making out in the wallow, his hands on Romy’s tiny behind, slowly rocking him against his erection.
Leaning back against the edge of the wallow, Bash squeezed Romy’s rear and grunted against his lips, their breath mingling as they panted, occasionally nipping each other’s lips in between short, peppery kisses that kept their arousal levels ramped up.
Bash’s fingertips grazed up and down Romy’s crack, never enough to truly touch that most intimate place. He wanted to. Fucking hell, he needed to bury himself there and feel Romy’s tight walls squeezing him. Grunting, Bash rocked Romy against him, shifting his hip so instead of rubbing alongside Romy’s thigh, their cocks pressed together, the motion and the mud creating delicious friction as Bash deepened the kiss again.
The need to claim his mate was at war with his desire to be careful of him and not push too far, too fast. To make Romy feel like he had to be ready for whatever Bash wanted when they hadn’t even talked about what either of them enjoyed or craved with a partner. Right now, the thing Bash craved the most was Romy riding him, the smaller rhino with his knees pressed tight to Bash’s sides as he squirmed in his lap.
Bouncing would come later. He wanted the feel of Romy’s hips rolling against his, the tightness, the shuddery feel of his mate coming apart on top of him. Gruff and groaning, Bash rocked Romy against him a little faster, pressing up with his hips, wanting to feel him unravel first. The way Romy clung to him, little scratch marks slowly forming on Bash’s shoulders, each pinprick of pain heightening his pleasure.
He pressed a fingertip between Romy’s cheeks and rubbed, the action prompting Romy to squirm with more urgency. Bash was so on edge, so lost in the pleasure of his mate’s lips and tongue dancing over his, that he lost his footing a little. The slide and subsequent jarring of their bodies as Bash landed on his ass, Romy straddling his lap, drew a curse from Romy as he came, thank fuck, because Bash couldn’t keep from coming any longer. With one hand gripping Romy’s ass and the fingers on his other hand running through his hair to tug gently, Bash promptly spurted all over his mate’s belly, chest and chin.
Even as they panted, they still squirmed against one another, neither cock fully deflated. The only thought churning through Bash’s mind was that they needed to clean up so they could get filthy again.
Then the snap of a branch changed everything.
Bash lurched up, his senses on full alert, twisting, he spun Romy around to press him beneath Bash’s larger body at the edge of the wallow, water lapped up over Romy’s shoulders. But at least Bash could leave him a little room to breathe as he scanned the darkness, cursing the fact that his nearest weapon was on the lawn chair with his underwear.
A rhino's vision being notoriously bad in the dark, Bash had installed strobe lights around the entire property, all of which he’d turned on when he’d come out here. It was the other reason for the thick, heavy curtains in front of all the windows. To keep the light out while they slept. Now, Bash attempted to use it to his advantage, only instead of an enemy, what ambled out of the tree line was a seriously rotund racoon that looked like he’d raided every trashcan on the crash’s land and hadn’t found them lacking in things to sustain him.
Little fucker seemed completely oblivious to their presence, as was evident when he jauntily wandered up to the edge of the wallow furthest from them, dipped his hands in the water, rubbed them together then rubbed his face and set about cleaning his whiskers.
“Are you fuckin’ kidding me?” Bash grumbled, feeling even more outraged when the racoon jerked his head up at the sound of Bash’s voice, before clumsily whirling and scampering off with a disgruntled bit of chatter. “Yeah, fuck you too, you nosy bastard! You come back here again, and I’ll make a hat out of you!”
Beneath him, he heard Romy snicker, then break into full on giggles, and could only imagine what he thought about the way Bash had pinned him against the side of the wallow, his cock resting on Romy’s chest as he’d carefully kept the other man protected. He knew he could relax a little now and ease some of his bulk, and his dick, off Romy. But damn it all, it was so close to Romy’s mouth, and they hadn’t had nearly enough fun with one another. He was just about to suggest taking things to the shower, when he caught movement out of the corner of his eyes and this time it wasn’t a harmless racoon that stepped out, but something feathered and standing almost as tall as a human which did not look right at all.
His shift was swift despite knowing it would squish his mate, Bash scrambled over the edge of the wallow and charged, chuffing and snorting, only to miss when the bird launched into the air before Bash could gore it. Whirling, he was too big and too slow to avoid those talons lashing out at his shoulder, but his hide would not be pierced, and he was able to smack the side of his head into the bird, knocking it crooked before it “hoooootttttted” down at him like a battle charge.
Fine by him, Bash let out the loudest, growliest, squealiest trumpeting sound he’d ever trumpeted, even as he swung his head to keep the bird in sight. Three more times it lashed out with claws, three more times it failed to pierce, and once, a loud, dry crack split the night as a claw broke off and hit the ground. Then it made the mistake of going for his eyes, talons outstretched, but not enough to avoid Bash’s 15 inch horn, which he thrust upward, catching the bird in the belly.
Impaled, the horn trapped behind its breastbone the owl went for a bone crushing ride as Bash shook his head side to side, tearing up the bird’s insides and snapping bones, especially when Bash stepped closer to a tree trunk and started beating the feathered form against the trunk. Bits of bone, ruffled feathers and blood splatter soon decorated the ground at the base of the tree and the trunk. The battered form slipped off the horn, leaving jagged ribs and a gaping hole that shockingly revealed a still beating heart.
Oh, fuck, that noise.
Trumpeting again, Bash reared up and brought his heavy front hooves down on the fallen bird. Then he did it a second time and a third, the crunching, squishing noises coming from it leaving him with a feeling of satisfaction, specifically when Sasha arrived, and they finished stomping it to bits together.
She wasn’t the only member of the crash to come running either, as rhinos in both human and animal form responded to his call. Bash blinked and was finally able to take a full look around now that the bird had stopped twitching, and what he saw was the best kind of reminder of why this crash was the safest place for Romy and those boys. His home had become surrounded by members of the crash, all looking outward and upward, protecting his mate and the boys. Bash didn’t need to look for Romy, he knew his mate had rushed inside to care for the boys the moment Romy became free to climb from the wallow and went to protect them. He didn’t have to ask to know they were safe. He could see it in the stance his crash had taken.
It was a good thing, it really was, because suddenly Bash wasn’t feeling so hot. A wave of dizziness hit, then nausea as the bird’s blood continued to drip from his horn over his lips, the coppery taste impossible to escape now.
Grunting, Bash’s front legs buckled, then his chin hit the dirt, his skull rattled, and every fucking thing faded to black.
Romy
When the squawking, trumpeting, and stomping stopped, Romy struggled with his need to go and check on Bash. He fought with the necessity to take care of the little ones who’d shifted before Romy had reached them. Covered in mud, slipping and sliding over the wooden floors to get to them, he’d nearly head butted the wall. They had been all he could focus on at the time.
Now the commotion had stopped, Miranda, one of the older crash members, who’d remained in her human form and had come to check on the boys, nodded to the door. “It’s okay, I’ll protect the little ones. Go on now. I can see you want to go check on your mate.”
He didn’t argue and didn’t question how the woman knew he was Bash’s mate. Not that they’d had a chance to mate with the owl interrupting things. He’d save being miffed for later.
He hadn’t reached the front door when he felt a shudder under his feet. What was that? He was running, unsure why his gut believed something was very wrong with Bash. He flew out the door, the crash, or most of them were there. It took a second to see Bash’s rhino slumped on the ground amongst a gory mess.
No. No. No, his mind screamed as he launched himself at the rhino, slipping and sliding once more, this time in blood and guts from the thing that hadn’t looked human or an owl but a combination of both. Romy would need to think about that some other time, his brain right now had once focus—Bash.
“Is he dead?” he asked those crouching next to Bash as he came to a breathless halt, looking down at the still form of his mate.
“No, injured and something is off with the blood. It don’t smell right to me,” the large rhino Romy couldn’t remember his name said.
Romy spun around and jumped into the wallow. He sniffed at the muddy water. The lights didn’t show any guts floating about. “Bring him into the wallow,” he demanded. He wasn’t naturally bossy, but this was different. “I’ll wash his hide. Come on,” he encouraged frantically in his panic.
Four rhinos carefully used their front legs to roll Bash into the wallow. He was big and the wave of muddy water Romy hadn’t anticipated hit him full frontal like a mini tidal wave. He gulped the dirty water, knocked on to his ass only to come up spluttering.
He scrubbed his face, blinking the dirt off his eyelashes. His own needs were not his first priority. He climbed on top of Bash’s vast body and directed the nearest rhino. “Splash him.”
He kept his mouth shut this time when the rhino did as he asked, and Romy started washing away the gunk covering Bash’s head first, checking for wounds. Then he moved down his body. Muddy water wasn’t ideal, but it would help his rhino.
Romy counted off in his head the seconds between each breath that Bash took. The jagged wound to the top of Bash’s shoulder, he could see was knitting back together. “That’s it, you can’t leave me all alone,” he sobbed as the shock tried to seep through his barriers.
His past was there wanting to use its nasty, biting grip to drag him backwards to when he had no one. “I need you. I need your kisses. Do you hear me Daddy? I’ll be really cross if you leave me,” he hiccuped, sounding anything but forceful the way he wanted to.
Time passed by with no awareness while he carefully examined, cleaned, and moved over Bash’s gigantic frame until he reached Bash’s tail and worked his way up between his legs. Romy’s arms were heavy with fatigue as he continued over Bash’s chest and to his head again. Exhausted, Romy listened and watched Bash breathing. Had it deepened?
Was it faster?
Slower?
Shouldn’t he be waking up now?
“Wake up,” he snapped, his fear leading the charge. “I mean it, if you don’t wake up, I’m gonna… I’m gonna spank your bottom for scaring me, Daddy.”
He peered closer.
Had his eyelids fluttered?
He held his breath and got close to the big horn glowing in the moonlight, giving it a stroke. “Please, wake up,” he sobbed. He used his other hand to rub his drippy nose and squinted. Was he…
Heart pounding, Romy’s lips curved up at the edges as slowly Bash opened his eyes and stared at him. The relief was immense, and Romy collapsed, his knees too weak to hold him. He wrapped his little arms around Bash’s head, careful of his horn, and clung on even as a set of hands tugged at him.
Sasha’s gentle voice didn’t initially break through his inner turmoil. “Come on Romy, listen to me, you need to let him shift, darling.”
Romy gave Bash’s rhino a little room to move, like two inches, as he glanced back at Sasha, trying to blink through his muddy eyelashes. “What?”
“He needs to shift, get his wounds checked, and eat.”
“He does,” he answered stupidly, too tired to think now with his adrenaline crash.
“Yep, you can sit on his lap. I’m sure you’d both like that. But let’s give Bash a little room now to shift, okay?”
Romy went with her, but never took his eyes off Bash. Didn’t blink for fear that he was imagining his mate sitting upright, bleeding from his shoulder and looking grayer than he did in his rhino form. “Daddy,” he sobbed, needing Bash to get his breath back.
He lifted his arms. “Daddy.”