Page 8 of Petty AF (At First #1)

eight

~ Deaton ~

I love you. I belong to you.

River’s words echoed inside my head throughout the short drive back to his two-bedroom bungalow.

We didn’t speak, communicating only in stolen glances filled with need and anticipation.

Our joined hands rested atop the center console, my grip on his fingers firm as if he might vanish if I didn’t cling tight to him.

Taut and palpable, tension saturated the air, making me hyperaware of every subtle change in him, every minute movement.

His intoxicating fragrance—sweet, warm, and uniquely River—filled every inch of the confined space.

Tinged with the scent of desire and nerves, it invaded my senses, flooding my veins with adrenaline that made my heart race and my cock throb.

When I pulled into his driveway, I threw the transmission into park and killed the engine. The silence that followed was deafening, snapping the tension, and I dove across the console, capturing his face between my hands and slanting our mouths together.

Fuck, I needed him. I craved him. His scent, his taste, his voice—they had all become an obsession, an addiction I couldn’t break.

I tilted his head back roughly and licked inside his mouth, delving into the darkest recesses as if I could imprint myself on his soul through touch alone.

His slender fingers encircled my wrists, his blunt nails biting into the skin as he leaned into me, his body vibrating in a silent plea for more.

We broke apart with a gasp, our hands fumbling with seatbelts and door handles as we both exited the cab. I met him at the front of the vehicle, resentful of the short separation, and lifted him into my arms.

He scrambled for purchase, his hands clutching at my shoulders as his legs locked around my waist. Holding him easily by the back of his thighs, I tilted my head up, growling when our lips met in another scorching kiss.

His long, silky hair fell around us, cocooning us in the illusion of privacy as we ate at each other, frantic and ravenous. Our tongues slid together and retreated, a pale mimicry of what we both truly wanted, but every glide sent a shock through my system.

My canines elongated, the tips scraping against his bottom lip and eliciting a quiet, husky moan.

Muscles swelled and tightened, my body responding to the sound with pure, predatory instinct.

My cotton tee stretched, adjusting to the expansion of my chest, but my jeans didn’t offer the same accommodations, trapping my cock painfully behind my zipper.

With River still balanced in my arms, I climbed the porch steps and kicked my foot against the door, too impatient to wait for him to fumble with the keys. The frame splintered with a resounding crack, debris littering the welcome mat as the door burst open.

I made it only two steps inside the living room before spinning to anchor him against the wall, freeing my hands to grope and explore. I touched his face, his neck, and traced the lean lines of his torso as our mouths continued to duel.

Irritated with the barriers that separated us, I stripped my own shirt off over my head and shredded his down the middle, revealing him to my hungry gaze. A deep growl rumbled in my chest as I stroked his bare skin, my hands splaying across the flat expanse of his abs.

“More,” River panted, his face flushed and his eyes glazed. “Touch me. Kiss me. Fuck me. I don’t know. Just give me more.”

I growled again, dark and primal, as I leaned into him, grinding my aching cock against his groin. His breath caught, then exploded in a loud groan as his fingers dug into the tops of my shoulders.

It wasn’t enough.

I wanted to own him, possess him, to burn away the remnants of everyone who came before me until only I remained.

“I want you,” River groaned, his hips moving faster as he rocked against me.

“I need to feel you pounding inside me. I want you to fill me. Stretch me. I want it rough and dirty.” His warm breath panted from his lips, his voice vibrating with carnality.

“Don’t hold back, Deaton. Give me everything. ”

Though I knew he had no control over the filthy words that poured from his mouth, it did nothing to lessen my reaction to them.

Gripping one of his thighs, I locked my other arm around his back and jerked him away from the wall. Blinded by need, I carried him through the living room and down the short hallway to his bedroom.

Though I meant to only nudge the door open with my foot, it exploded inward, crashing against the wall and rebounding hard enough to slam shut behind us.

Too far gone for finesse, I dropped him onto the bed and quickly divested the rest of my clothing.

Following my lead, River discarded the tattered remains of his top, then stretched out on the mattress, arching his hips so he could push off his jeans.

Gloriously naked, he positioned himself in the center of the bed and fisted his cock, his eyelids fluttering as his hand moved along the rigid shaft.

Gods, he was fucking beautiful. All long lines and lean muscles wrapped in a flawless complexion that glowed in the sunlight spilling through the open blinds.

“Deaton, hurry.” His thighs tensed, and his back bowed, his hips rising and falling as he thrust through the circle of his hand. “I feel like I’m on fire. Fuck, please, I need you.”

I dared anyone to resist such open and honest pleading.

The mattress dipped, and the frame creaked beneath my weight as I knelt at the foot of the bed. Crawling toward him, I covered his smaller body, sinking into the cradle of his hips with a muted growl.

“Oh, god,” he gasped as he arched into me. “You’re so warm. And big. I don’t understand it, but I love it.”

I didn’t understand it, either, but it had only ever happened with River, a physical manifestation of the bond between us. I wouldn’t consider the changes in my body significant, but they were certainly noticeable.

My thighs and arms swelled, growing in circumference, and my chest expanded, broadening at the shoulders. The corded muscles in my neck stood out in sharp relief, and my height increased a few inches.

While I could feel the changes, it didn’t hurt. In fact, it felt incredible. Powerful. But it did mean I had to take extra care with my mate, his petite body somehow seeming more fragile beneath my bulky frame.

Desperate, greedy, I slanted my mouth over his again, drinking him in with a deep groan when his taste exploded across my tongue. The energy that crackled between us was electric, almost painful in its intensity, like trying to hold on to a live wire.

River wrapped his arms around my neck and writhed against me, every slide of our skin together pushing my need for him higher. Driven by instincts, drowning in him, I took everything he gave and still demanded more.

Breaking away from his mouth, I skimmed my lips down the column of his throat, scraping my fangs over the sensitive skin at the apex of his shoulder. River gasped and bucked up from the bed, a loud moan spilling from his lips.

“Fuck, I love the sounds you make. Don’t stop.” Deep, harsh, and filled with gravel, my voice didn’t sound like my own, but River didn’t seem to mind.

“Yes,” he hissed, his body trembling beneath my touch. “It’s so hot when your voice goes all growly like that.”

Who was I to deny him what he wanted?

I growled again, the sound a low, continuous rumble as I continued to tease and torment, kissing and stroking every inch of him as I reached for the nightstand.

Finding the small plastic bottle with ease, I flipped the cap open and poured the contents into my palm.

Then I reached between us, slicking my aching cock and coating River’s entrance with the excess.

I ringed his clenching hole with my index finger, coaxing the tight muscles to relax before pushing inside with just the tip. River’s eyes rolled back in his head, and he spread his legs, opening himself wider to the intrusion.

“I don’t need it,” he protested. “Just fuck me.”

I ignored him as I pumped my finger into his tight hole to stretch him. My arms and legs weren’t the only parts of my body bigger in this form, and I wouldn’t risk hurting him, even unintentionally.

A delicate pink flush spread across his skin when I added a second digit, and a loud, needy groan echoed around the room. His stomach quivered, his cock jerked, and his nipples stiffened, tightening into hard peaks.

His cries rose in pitch and volume when I inserted a third finger, sawing into his heated channel with deliberate slowness. He was breathtaking in his desire, and I couldn’t take my eyes off him.

Once I was confident in his readiness, I pulled away, smirking at his whined protests.

I rolled off him and settled against the headboard, my shoulders pressing into the cold, padded leather as I dragged him onto my lap.

I still didn’t entirely trust the thin leash I had on my control, and allowing him to set the tempo felt like the safer option.

“Oh, thank fuck,” River breathed as he straddled my hips and gripped the base of my cock.

Lining the crown up with his entrance, he took a deep breath and released it slowly as he sank over me, taking me inside him inch by torturous inch. He bottomed out with a ragged groan—his pert ass pressed flush against my groin—and stilled.

My answering growl filled the room, but I battled back the desire to thrust into him, giving him the time he needed to adjust to the invasion. Instead, I settled one hand on his hip and stroked his chest and arms with the other.

He was so fucking tight. So hot. His velvet walls contracted around my cock in rhythmic waves, massaging, milking, and driving me out of my mind.

I closed my eyes and held myself rigidly when he began to move, gritting my teeth against the onslaught of sensations. But every rise and fall, every smooth glide, threatened to snap my self-control.

“Deaton.” His breath fanned against my face, warm and enticing. “Deaton, look at me.”

I blinked, doing as he asked, meeting his penetrating gaze.

“You’re not going to hurt me.” He continued to ride me, his movements slow and careful.

I shook my head. “I’m not in control, baby.”

“Good.” His eyes flashed with challenge. “Unless you’re saying you don’t want me.”

Insulted that he would think that, I surged upright, my eyes instantly shifting to their lupine counterpart as my control slipped even more. Growling, I pushed his arms behind his back, gathering his wrists in one hand and wrapping the other gently around his throat.

“You have no idea the depraved things I want to do to you.”

His eyes widened, but not in fear. Raw, unfiltered desire shined back at me, and the pungent scent of his lust filled my head. His hips jerked, sucking me even deeper into his warm body.

The force of his need was overwhelming, searing away the last of my restraint.

With a dark, possessive growl, I reversed our positions, rolling him beneath me on the mattress, our bodies still joined at the hips.

Gathering his wrists again, I stretched his arms over his head, pinning his hands to the bed.

“You fight dirty,” I told him as I thrust hard and deep.

He cried out, his head whipping back and forth on the comforter. “Oh, fuck. Fuck.”

“Is this what you wanted, baby?” I surged into him again, pumping my hips faster. “Hard and rough? You like it when I take what I want, don’t you?”

“Yes!” he yelled, his voice ringing throughout the room. “Anything. I’ll give you anything.”

Lost in him, feral with hunger, I rutted against him, every punishing snap of my hips pushing him up the mattress. A string of incoherent babble spilled from his mouth, interspersed with throaty moans and shouted curses.

Teetering on the brink, straddling the edge of no return, our eyes met, held, an understanding passing between us, an acknowledgement that everything was about to change.

Then he turned his head, baring his throat in both surrender and invitation.

I struck hard and fast, burying my canines into the supple skin as I pounded into him, dragging us both toward the precipice.

I didn’t linger, though. Guided by something outside of my control, I lifted my head, scoring the side of my tongue on the tip of my canine before slanting my mouth over his.

The moment our tongues brushed together, warmth exploded inside my chest, then radiated out to other parts of my body. My heart pounded like a war drum, and every muscle clenched tight as the threads of fate solidified into an unbreakable connection.

Crying out my name, River bowed up from the bed, his cock detonating, expelling ropes of hot cum that painted his chest and abs. Unable to hold back, I followed him over the edge, my thrusts jerky as I spilled in waves, filling him with my release.

A growl ripped from my throat when the head of my cock swelled, lodging deep inside my mate. River cried out again, his breaths coming in desperate pants as another stream of semen spilled from his softening erection.

I rocked my hips gently, prolonging his pleasure until the knot finally receded.

Then I eased out of him and collapsed by his side, pulling him into my arms as I fought to catch my breath.

We were quiet for a long time, content to simply hold each other while we reveled in the peace of the afterglow.

Some semblance of higher brain functioning had just started to return when River jerked back with a hiss. At the same time, I felt a sting on my palm, a superficial burn that seemed to emanate from within.

The discomfort lasted only a moment, but the lines of fate etched into our skin would never fade.

“It’s pretty,” River commented, using his index finger to trace the stark white lines of the mating mark on his palm. “Does it do anything?”

“We’ll always be able to find each other,” I explained. Even now, I had a new awareness of him that I couldn’t explain with words. “And I’ll always know when you need me.”

“Sucks for you,” he quipped, his lips parting in a soft smile. “I always need you.”

“Trust me, that’s not something I’ll ever complain about.”

He tilted his head up to brush our lips together. “I love you, Deaton, and I’m really glad you’re mine.”

“I love you, too, baby. You are my everything.”

And I’d destroy the whole fucking world before I let anyone take him from me.