Page 22

Chapter 21

G ordon was rudely awoken. Adler’s arm was draped over him, and Gordon felt himself being pulled toward the werewolf as if Gordon were a fish caught in an Adler-shaped net.

“Good morning, sweetheart,” Adler said, his voice dark and heady with the remnants of sleep.

Judging by the light, the first part of that statement was wrong; morning was never “good.”

“It’s too early,” Gordon mumbled. “Go back to sleep.”

The wolf chuckled. “You are distracting.” Adler pressed his erection against Gordon.

Oh. “Mmm. Only if you promise to let me sleep in tomorrow. This is getting ridiculous. Second time in a row. I do not do mornings.”

“I like doing you in the morning.”

Gordon chuckled, stretched, and Adler used that opportunity to draw him even closer, to nibble his shoulder.

“You seem to like biting me. I heard wolves get all toothy in the bedroom. Wasn’t sure it was true.”

Adler pulled away, his eyes searching Gordon’s face. “You want me to stop?”

“I didn’t say that. Just taking note of your habits. I know the average werewolf’s physiology and metabolism, and I know Jared from accounting loves fried tofu, but that is about the limit of my understanding of wolves in a social context.”

Adler settled against Gordon, his firm body warm and welcoming. “Well, we like to bite. And I’m pretty sure you heard about claiming bites and claiming rituals. Hell, that TV show a while back made it into a huge romantic gesture.”

Gordon turned, his eyes opening wide. “Don’t tell me you watched Grey Lake Pack .”

Adler looked all smug. “I admit to nothing. But if I had, I’d note that most wolves don’t take their shirts off as soon as they enter a room.”

Gordon grinned, showing his teeth. “I thought that was odd. Jared from accounting never does that.”

“You are one hundred percent trying to make me do your accounting.”

“Firstly, I deny that. Secondly, you were trained for interrogation, and I’m still half asleep, so this is basically coercion.” Gordon snuggled closer to Adler, enjoying that werewolf heat.

Adler gave a low growl before he kissed Gordon’s neck. “If anyone is coercing anyone, it’s you. And I can’t resist you.” Then he ran his right hand down the outside of Gordon’s thigh, back up the inside. “How am I supposed to resist this? How do you expect me to wake next to you and resist this, sweetheart?”

“I don’t know yet, detective.”

Adler took a deep breath, kissed Gordon’s neck, licked the same spot.

He pulled back, one warm palm resting on Gordon’s thigh. “Mmm. Well. About the biting—I never felt the need to do it with others, or not as much. I do want to with you.”

“You mean you want to bite so hard people will see it on me? That’s what those claiming bites are, right?”

Adler hissed. “In the fucking stories. With werewolves who haven’t arrived in the present day. They use claiming bites because real mating bites, the ones that really bond two people together, are so rare. A claiming bite is basically putting your name on someone’s skin by using your teeth. Fuck, I’d have to really hurt you for that, and I’d never want to do that. No, I just mean for pleasure. I want to bite you for the pleasure it gives you. And the pleasure that it gives me.”

Gordon ran a finger along Adler’s temple and hummed. “I see. I think I’ll like it, so go for it.”

Adler clearly wasn’t going to wait to be told twice. Gordon found himself flipped on his back and straddled.

Gordon blinked up at the werewolf. “Well, if I’m being woken this early and not given coffee, I definitely deserve being treated like a pillow queen.”

Adler’s eyes lit up, literally, the part that was werewolf catching the light and reflecting it oddly. It wasn’t magic, but it made the moment special.

“A queen, you say. Highness, your wish is my command.”

Gordon ran his hands up Adler’s legs, up to the wolf’s chest. He admired the smooth dark skin, the muscles he’d felt in the wolf’s form but could now see clearly. Adler stared down at him, and there was more in the wolf’s eyes than just hunger. Adoration, Gordon thought, but without the sweetness and innocence. Desire, Gordon thought, but not as shallow and fleeting.

Adler bent forward. He cupped Gordon’s face in his hands, brushed tender kisses over Gordon’s lips and slowly deepened them when Gordon let his mouth fall open, inviting more.

Gordon had the suspicion that—if it hadn’t been for his vampire healing—his lips would’ve still been raw from last night. Adler did his best to make them raw all over again, and the slight stubble on the werewolf’s chin had Gordon feeling tender very soon.

Adler came up for breath and to look down on Gordon with that incomprehensible expression once more.

“Can I be inside you again?”

Yes, Gordon thought, his entire body tensing with anticipation.

But he waited to respond, waited just a handful of seconds before he said, “I would like that.”

Adler flicked Gordon’s nipple so fast Gordon didn’t even have the time to moan. “Good.”

He reached for the lube on the nightstand, squeezed some into his hands. Gordon watched as the wolf slowly spread it in his palms, then slicked his erect cock. Wow, he’s large. He did feel large last night but seeing him like this really offers room for appreciating the goods.

Adler moved, nudging Gordon to spread his legs so he could position himself between them. The werewolf lifted one of Gordon’s legs over his shoulder before stroking Gordon’s hole and slipping a lube-slick finger inside.

“You’re still loose. Good. Less waiting.”

“No waiting?” Gordon knew he wasn’t what anyone would call coquettish, but he tried.

“Say please.”

“Please, Adler. I don’t want to wait.”

“As you wish, your highness.”

Adler lined up, and Gordon relaxed for him the moment he felt Adler’s cockhead nudging him. Then Adler pushed inside, and Gordon trembled with lust, letting out a low sound, something more than a whimper.

Adler sighed with pleasure. “I like that I can make you whimper like this. And I like that this makes you moan.”

There is nothing else I could do with your cock inside me. Gordon felt tighter than last night, tilted his hips so he could feel Adler’s cock all the better for it. Fuck, this feels so good . Has sex ever felt this good before? Can’t remember. Shouldn’t think about sex with other people.

Adler picked up speed, his thrusts rough, the sensation when he pulled back only to slam back into Gordon a delight. The werewolf stroked Gordon’s leg, licked his own lips as if he wanted to savor Gordon, and with his free hand, he squeezed Gordon’s cock, not painful, just enough to slow Gordon’s arousal down slightly.

“You do make a nice pillow queen.” Adler thrust deep and leaned forward to bite Gordon’s thigh, just below the knee.

Gordon’s balls drew tight, and he wanted to cum, wanted nothing more. When Adler kept nibbling at Gordon, all while thrusting and thrusting and still keeping Gordon’s own orgasm bottled up, it was nearly too much.

Adler slowed, giving Gordon some reprieve, but that was just so he could change positions, could lower Gordon’s leg and spread the vampire for maximum access before leaning forward to crush their mouths together.

Gordon felt his breath rush out of him when Adler thrust, this angle somehow hitting everything in just the right way.

Adler let go of Gordon’s cock, his mouth wandering to Gordon’s throat. Gordon came, fast and deep, blissing out. He felt a sharpness he hadn’t felt before. Adler drove his teeth into the skin of the crook of Gordon’s neck, hard, drawing blood.

It wasn’t a vampire bite, far from it, but it was surprising, the way the pain came in the very height of orgasm and brought Gordon to screaming all the louder for it, not because it hurt, but because it made cumming better, made the sensation stand out clearer. That was weird.

Adler didn’t relax his jaws, and Gordon could feel the wolf thrust harder, faster, until he culminated and filled him in one last stroke, pulsing his own release into Gordon.

It dazzled, almost blinded Gordon, the way every sensation was raw and intense and therefore indescribably, inescapably good .

Delirious moments later, Adler pulled out of Gordon, but rather than lie down next to him, the wolf walked out of the room and quickly reappeared, towel in hand. He cleaned Gordon up, lingered on his neck, the towel working away around the bite with exceeding gentleness and care.

“Was that, erm. Okay I guess? I didn’t actually mean to bite that deep.”

That made Gordon jerk, because a deep vampire bite—the kind he was most familiar with, professionally speaking—was more often than not halfway to a mauling. It was a thing the unexperienced did, and in very bad cases, donors required treatment. In Gordon’s case, a bite like that would show for hours.

Gordon brought his hand up to check the mark. He could smell the blood, but the wounds themselves were shallow and barely stung. As far as he could tell, they were in the process of healing, just as they should.

“That’s a scratch. And getting it felt weirdly enjoyable. Maybe Grey Lake Pack had it right after all.”

Adler snorted, wiped at Gordon’s neck until he was satisfied, then tossed the towel on the floor.

“I’ll remind you of that when some vampire groupie asks you to pose for them in lace, because all the shady vampire characters in Grey Lake Pack wore only lace.”

“Yeah, vampire groupies love hearing about how I am a vampire working in a morgue. And it isn’t even all I do, but not that they care.” He sighed dramatically. “Humans.”

Before Adler could respond, his phone rang. He cursed under his breath but picked up. Gordon watched. Adler moving was hot, in a very domestic way. The knowledge that someone as attractive as that with nice shoulders like those had picked Gordon of all vampires was exhilarating.

Adler answered the phone, locked eyes with Gordon. “Maxim.” That specifically ruined any chance Gordon had hoped for of going back to sleep, potentially with Adler as a pillow. “Say what? I’m on my way. Fuck,” Adler said, hung up. “ Fuck. ”

“What?”

Adler fished his clothes off the floor, hurried to get dressed. “Maxim and Heath identified a possible suspect, and they got an ID. No address, but they were able to track some magazine subscription to Dr. Jackson’s address. Her girlfriend is the suspect, and Jackson isn’t there, or where she should be, and Maxim says it looks like an abduction to him.”

“Her girlfriend? The girlfriend is the suspect?”

Adler shook his head. “That’s what Maxim said. I don’t know. He’ll fill me in when I get there.”

“I’m coming with you.”

“You don’t have to do that. I don’t know what I’m walking into here.”

Gordon tried to locate underwear and pants and a shirt as fast as possible. “I know that, but I want to. I may usually work on people past the point where a medic is helpful, but I do remember the basics of how to stop a person from bleeding out. Having me around might come in handy if this really is an abduction.”

Adler nodded. “Fine. Point taken. Fuck, where are my shoes?”