Page 6

ROUSING SLOWLY, EZRA fought through his grogginess. He groaned quietly, turning his head and nuzzling the firm yet soft pillow his head rested on. His muscles felt relaxed, but sore...as if he’d strained himself.

What the hell happened? Did I overtax myself?

Ezra decided that could be the only logical explanation for what he was feeling.

So how did I do that?

Racking his brain, Ezra searched his memories for what he’d done on the prior day’s hike. He drew a blank. He couldn’t think of anything that would explain his fatigued soreness.

I woke up, ate a small breakfast of fruits, nuts, and jerky, and hit the trail. There was nothing real strenuous about any section. Nothing I haven’t handled plenty of times before.

So what...wait, did I make it to the river crossing?

Recalling swapping out his shoes, Ezra knew that he had.

Did I slip in the water and hit my head or something?

Then the image of the big, shaggy ox-like animal filled his mind.

Did it attack me?

A second later, Ezra recalled Link...appearing in the trail...directly where the big animal had been.

“What the hell?”

Ezra gasped, snapping his eyes open. He tried to jackknife into a sitting position, but something held him immobile.

“Easy, Ezra.”

Link’s deep voice crooned into his ear. Ezra felt big, soothing hands caress his neck, shoulders, and back, and his hair stood on end as goose bumps broke out on his flesh. “You’re safe, sweetheart. You’re okay.”

Turning his head, Ezra realized a couple of things at once.

First, the firm, soft pillow was actually the crook of Link’s shoulder. A few inches away, his light-brown nipple poked up from within a smattering of dark, wiry chest hair. That led across his broad pectorals and down over his slightly rounded belly to disappear into the waistband of a pair of jogging shorts.

Second, Link held him in a firm hold while rubbing his back with one hand and massaging his neck with the other. They were reclining beneath the trees on Ezra’s sleeping bag. The huge, bearded man sported a worried look, and concern filled his warm, dark-chocolate-brown eyes.

“L-Link?”

Ezra whispered, uneasy confusion flooding him.

“Yeah?”

As usual, the timbre of Link’s voice caused a rush of heat to fill Ezra’s veins. He forced himself to ignore that in favor of asking, “Uh, wh-what are you doing here?”

Doing his best to keep his voice steady, he added, “A-And how? Why?”

Another thought struck him. “Are you stalking me?”

“Uh, I guess you could say that, in a way, I am stalking you,”

Link muttered, grimacing. “But, uh, I just couldn’t stand the thought of not seeing you for weeks after just finding you.”

A fresh wave of shock flooded Ezra, and he gaped at the big man.

Damn. At least, he’s honest.

Link’s dark eyes widened, and his cheeks took on a distinctive pinkish hue, so dark it was even easily seen through his thick, black beard.

“Shit,”

Link whispered. “Can’t believe I said that.”

He swallowed so hard his Adam’s apple bobbed as he stared up at the trees above them. “I really would never hurt you, Ezra.”

Link’s arm tightened around Ezra just a little, as if the big man expected him to hop up and run. Peering at Ezra again, he stared at him beseechingly. “Please believe me.”

Confused as hell at not only his sudden desire to soothe the big man, but at the man’s sudden rambling admission, Ezra slowly shook his head.

“Please?”

Link repeated pleadingly.

Realizing Link had gotten the wrong idea, Ezra gave in to his odd compulsion to soothe the big guy and rubbed his palm over his chest. The feel of his wiry chest hairs against his palm caused the hairs to rise on his arm. The rushing heat of awareness surged through Ezra, and blood flooded his groin. The handsome man next to him was barely half-dressed, after all, and he’d been attracted to him while he’d been fully clothed.

“Uh, well...you saved me from that animal, right?”

Ezra commented almost absently, offering Link a small smile. “That entitles you to a bit of goodwill, even if you are a stalker.”

While Ezra had meant that to be a joke, Link winced and looked away again.

“Sorry, Link,”

Ezra mumbled, feeling a bit bad. With a sigh, he glanced around the area. “So, uh, what happened, anyway?”

“Didn’t save you from the musk ox,”

Link told him, teasing his fingertips under the hem of Ezra’s shirt. It had ridden up at some point, giving the other man access to his skin. “Wouldn’t have hurt you, even in that form.”

With the way Link skimmed his fingertips over the knobs of Ezra’s spine, he was having a hard time concentrating on the man’s words. Maybe that was why they didn’t make much sense to him. On the other hand, it could’ve been the feel of Link’s wide torso under his own roving hand.

Wait. “Musk ox?”

Ezra snapped his attention to Link’s bearded face. “Is that what that was?”

Confusion filled him anew, beating back his completely inappropriate arousal. “Heard the name, but I can’t imagine they’re native to here.”

“Not native to here.”

Link took in a deep breath, then let it out slowly through pursed lips. “But as a shifter, we can end up anywhere.”

Ezra froze, stilling his hand on Link’s broad chest. Although, he couldn’t keep his fingers from twitching a little. “I’m sorry. What?”

Staring at Link’s handsome bearded features, Ezra wondered just how the man could explain.

“A shifter.”

Link repeated the unfamiliar term. “A paranormal being who shares his psyche with an animal.”

His dark-eyed gaze pinned Ezra with an intense stare. “Humans aren’t alone on the planet, Ezra. They never have been.”

Barking a laugh, Ezra grinned widely at Link. He waited a couple of heartbeats, feeling certain that the other guy would soon grin, laugh, and tell him that he was just joking. Except, Link didn’t. He just continued to eye him, his gaze steady, his expression serene.

“A-Are you...are you being serious right now?”

Ezra couldn’t help but ask the question, even though, from Link’s expression, it was plain he clearly believed his words. Without waiting for a response, Ezra quickly continued, “Of course you are.”

He lifted a little, rising onto his elbow so he could peer down at Link, his brain spinning. “But why would you believe such a thing?”

“You saw me shift, Ezra,”

Link insisted. After a second of hesitation, he added, “And you saw me yesterday. I had that satchel hanging from my horn.”

Pointing, Link indicated a satchel to Ezra’s left that looked distinctly familiar. “You were about to take a picture of me, so I had to get away from you.”

With a scoff, Link muttered, “Sure can’t have you posting pictures of my musk ox form on social media or somethin’. That’d draw the wrong kind of attention.”

“Wrong kind of attention?”

Ezra repeated, a fresh wave of confusion filling him. “What’s that mean? Who’re you talking about?”

His brain fritzed in another direction, and he mumbled, “Surely this is supposed to be a secret, right? Why would you tell me about this?”

“Well, no, we don’t normally tell anyone about us,”

Link admitted, flicking out his tongue and wetting his bottom lip. The move nearly distracted Ezra from his next comment of, “But you’re my mate. Um, my soul mate, so you need to know about this shit.”

“Your mate. Soul mate?”

Ezra felt as if he was parroting Link’s words an awful lot, and he felt a rush of annoyance. “What the fuck does that mean?”

Link hunched his shoulders a little, and he winced, his lips pinching as his brows drew down.

Ezra felt a niggle of guilt that he didn’t understand. His frustration warred with his need to see that expression gone from Link’s face. While Ezra didn’t comprehend it, he had to acknowledge that something within him made him want to see the man relax and smile at him again.

Shit. What the hell is this that I’m feeling?

After blowing out a breath through pursed lips, making the beard hairs around his lips quiver just a little, Link focused his dark-eyed gaze on Ezra once more. “I promised to answer all your questions, and so I shall.”

Link wetted his lips again, almost derailing Ezra’s need for answers. The move reminded him of how pleasurable the big man’s kisses were, and his desire to experience that again flooded him. Ezra’s cock thickened, swelling and filling the confines of his cargo shorts.

His nostrils flaring, Link sucked in a sharp breath. “Gods, the smell of your arousal is making it tough to concentrate,”

he rumbled gruffly while flicking his gaze toward Ezra’s bulging fly. Grimacing, Link refocused on Ezra’s face. “But as much as I want to suck you off and bury my cock so far up your ass you’ll feel me in your throat, I need to explain why you want those exact same things.”

Hearing Link’s blunt description of his desires caused a flare of heat in his groin, and his cock twitched behind his fly. He wanted those exact same things...oh-so-badly. Except, then he processed Link’s final words.

With a groan, knowing Link was right, Ezra lowered his hand and adjusted his hard prick. He blew out a breath and returned his palm to the big man’s thick pectoral. The feel of the hard muscle twitching under his fingers didn’t help a whole lot.

Ezra grunted in frustration and flopped to his back. The move should have put a little space between them, but Link didn’t seem to want that. Instead, the big man moved with him, and it was his turn to rest his head on the crook of Ezra’s shoulder. Link’s beard prickled Ezra’s side, causing his nipples to bead.

“Damn, it’s hard to concentrate when we’re touching,”

Ezra mumbled, but that didn’t stop him from curving the arm under Link’s back up so he could rub over his shoulder blade.

“I like touching you, too,”

Link replied softly. After a few heartbeats of silence, he cleared his throat and stated, “So, uh, let me start answering your questions.”

“Oookaaay,”

Ezra drawled, still unable to wrap his mind around what Link was claiming.

There’s just no way.

“So, I know you don’t believe me, but you will,”

Link claimed confidently, a small smile teasing around the edges of his bearded lips. “There’s a reason I decided to share that I’m a shifter with you while you’re out here, after all.”

Ezra didn’t know how to respond to that, so he kept his mouth shut.

Link’s dark eyes seemed to twinkle. “You know that old adage seeing is believing?”

He didn’t wait for Ezra to confirm, immediately adding, “Well, I figured that should be my first course. I showed you my musk ox form, then shifted in front of you.”

Grimacing, Link murmured, “I should’ve known you’d faint. Most humans who aren’t verbally prepared first usually do.”

He scoffed softly before muttering, “Even some who are told in advance what’s about to happen still faint.” Link shrugged, jostling them. “Most humans just don’t accept it the first time around.”

“They don’t?”

Ezra piped up. When Link shook his head, his beard sliding gently across his skin, Ezra fought back a shiver as he muttered, “Glad I’m not alone in that.”

“Another thing I’ve heard over the years is the way a human will comment, I’d think I’m dreaming, but I don’t have the imagination for this sort of shit.”

Link winked, grinning widely. “How about you? Ever imagined this sort of thing? Like to read paranormal fantasy books or watch those sorts of movies?”

Ezra hummed, realizing the truth in Link’s words. He definitely did not have the imagination necessary for a paranormal called a shifter. Shaking his head slightly, Ezra side-eyed the big man curled against his body, staring at him expectantly.

“Well, I think you can guess the answer to that considering I already told you I’m not a gamer,”

Ezra pointed out softly. “And I don’t watch movies much. I enjoy the outdoors way too much to sit in front of the boob tube after working for hours in front of a computer for my job.”

“That’s understandable.”

Link rubbed his palm up and down Ezra’s side as he softly continued, “I’m a shifter, and I love being outdoors in my musk ox form. It’s why I came out to spend time with you...so you could see we’re compatible, even though I’m a hacker.”

Goose bumps broke out along the skin of Ezra’s side, and he struggled to focus on their conversation. He knew it was important, no matter what his aching dick thought. The huge male cuddled up to his side had claimed they were soul mates...and after a few seconds of thought, Ezra had been able to figure out the meaning of that one on his own.

“So, you think we’re soul mates.”

Ezra figured that was the next huge thing he needed to deal with—shifters aside, of course. “I mean, yeah, we have chemistry, but why would you jump to the conclusion of soul mates?”

“You need to understand that a shifter lives a lot longer than a human. To alleviate the prospect of a long, lonely life, a shifter has a mate out there, only one, and it’s a pairing blessed by Fate herself, and we consider finding him or her the greatest of gifts.”

Link’s voice rumbled through the air, soft and deep. “She allows us to recognize that person by scent, and that person is the one we can bond with and build a life with, so we’ll never be alone again.”

A husky chuckle filled the air as Link squeezed Ezra’s side. “When I smelled you at Amelia’s apartment...just day-am.”

Smiling widely, Link tipped his head so he could peer at Ezra fully. His dark eyes twinkled with his obvious pleasure. “I sprang wood and just about swallowed my tongue.”

He turned his head and inhaled deeply, before letting his breath out on a groan. “Gods, you smell so damn good, sweetheart.”

Considering Ezra had been hiking for three days and hadn’t bothered to apply deodorant because he wasn’t planning to head into town for supplies for a few more days, he couldn’t imagine how Link could enjoy his scent so much. He felt his cheeks heat with embarrassment. Ezra shifted a bit in discomfort when Link did it a second time.

Perhaps Link noticed his unease, for his head popped up, and he leveled a piercing look at him. “Your scent is the greatest aphrodisiac, Ezra,”

he declared, his expression serious. “Never doubt that.”

Ezra licked his lips while sucking in a sharp breath. “So, uh, mates.”

A disturbing thought hit him. “Blessed by Fate.”

He wasn’t going to touch the idea of Link believing in the mythical being, but he had to wonder. “Is that why we’re so attracted to each other? Because of this Fate and mate thing?”

Wait. Wouldn’t that mean I have to believe in shifters, Fate, and mates for that to be true?

Even as Link quickly shook his head, Ezra realized he truly didn’t know what he suddenly believed.

Shit. Could everything Link is telling me actually be true?