Page 7

“NO, OF COURSE THAT’S not the only reason,”

Link declared, knowing that was a normal human response, too. The value of free will and choice and all that. Needing to alleviate Ezra’s concerns, Link explained, “We’d have been attracted regardless. Fate just gives what we feel for each other a bit of a boost.”

Seeing the disbelief in the narrowing of Ezra’s eyes, Link added, “Lowers our inhibitions a bit, helping each of us have a little extra incentive when there might be obstacles to overcome. Maybe something that we’d otherwise let get in our way.”

“Like the fact that I’ve only ever seriously dated women,”

Ezra murmured, sounding a bit dazed. “Well, except for this one time for like...two weeks...years ago.”

Huh. That’s news.

I’ll follow up on it later.

Instead, Link nodded. “Uh, right. That.”

Thinking quickly, he added, “Or how Tucker was bisexual, but he’d never come out to his family because he knew he’d be disowned, but he did it for Rigel.”

It almost seemed as if a lightbulb came on over Ezra’s head. “Wait. Amelia’s brother, Tucker?”

Even as Link began to nod, his mate continued, “Tucker came out for Rigel because...because”—his voice lowered as if imparting a secret—“they’re mates?”

Link resumed nodding and opened his mouth to confirm verbally, but Ezra wasn’t done.

“Then Rigel is a”—Ezra waved a hand to indicate Link’s body—“like you.”

His eyes widened almost comically. “Or is Tucker one? What about Amelia?”

“Tucker’s human,”

Link cut in before Ezra could start off on another tangent. “Amelia is, too, but she knows about our kind. Her baby will be one.”

Seeing the way Ezra’s eyes managed to open even further, Link added, “It’s one of the reasons Amelia’s moving in with Tucker and Rigel...so they can help her with the babe.”

“Holy shit.”

From the sound of Ezra’s hoarsely whispered words coupled with the myriad of ever-changing scents wafting from him—disbelief, shock, fear, amazement, and everything in between—Link knew he’d completely overwhelmed his mate. His human would need time to mentally process. Link even knew exactly how to help him do that, too.

“Look, I know this is a lot to take in,”

Link rumbled, purposefully lowering his tone to a soft croon. In the past, he’d used the tone to soothe his niece and nephew when they’d gotten hurt. Link sure hoped it had the same calming effect on his mate as he claimed, “This is always a lot for a human to take in. It’s understandable. Very few actually hear the news and shout with excitement about the discovery.”

Creatures of myth and legend just weren’t believed in very much anymore. Just as religions, politics, and governments changed over the millennia, so too did cultures. These days, science seemed to be reigning supreme, and if something couldn’t be easily referenced, cataloged, or quantified, it didn’t exist.

Boy are those guys wrong.

Magick and the paranormal were alive and well across the globe over...and into dimensions beyond.

Link just had to give Ezra’s brain time to accept the facts. To do that, as much as it sucked, he needed to take a step back and give his mate time. It wasn’t as if Ezra could go far.

And that was the whole point of following him out here.

“I know you need time to process this, Ezra,”

Link crooned, rubbing over his side, taking a moment to slide his fingertips under the hem of his shirt and caress his smooth flesh. It was just too inviting. “And while I want to get to know you, I didn’t come out here to ruin your vacation.”

To Link’s relief, the tension slowly began to bleed out of Ezra’s body. “You need time to process. I get that.”

With a smile, he eased to a sitting position. “How about I let you get back to your vacation? Hiking is your happy place. It’ll help you decompress.”

Ezra slowly followed his lead and moved to a sitting position. “Uh, okay?”

Link lowered his hand to Ezra’s thigh and squeezed lightly, enjoying the feel of the firm muscle and the soft thigh hair. “I’ll shift back into my musk ox form so you can see I’m telling you the truth.”

When the tension instantly returned to Ezra, Link realized he’d forgotten something vital. “I’m completely cognizant while in my animal form,”

he assured, rubbing over Ezra’s thigh once more. “I know exactly who you are, and I would never ever hurt you.”

Still scenting his mate’s disbelief, Link added, “I would even defend you to my dying breath, sweetheart. I would never let anything or anyone hurt you.”

After a deep swallow, Ezra nodded. “Right. Uh, you certainly didn’t before, so...I can see that.”

Grinning, Link leaned forward and pecked a kiss to Ezra’s lips. “I’ll let you get back to your vacation, my mate, but I’ll be around.”

Knowing he had to make his intentions clear, Link told him, “And I’ll join you when you make camp this evening. Then you can ask any questions you’ve come up with. I’ll answer anything. Everything.”

Link didn’t mind repeating himself because he knew just how important this was. “I’ll always do my best to tell you the truth.”

Still looking a little dazed, Ezra nodded again. “Okay.”

“I do have just one request,”

Link stated, skimming his fingertips along Ezra’s thigh muscle once more. When Ezra peered up at him, Link couldn’t help but think that he still appeared a bit stunned, but he ventured ahead, saying, “You can’t say anything about shifters to anyone. No one you pass on the trail, and no one you may call on your satellite phone. Secrecy is key for our kinds’ safety.”

“Right, yeah, yeah,”

Ezra immediately replied, nodding. “Of course.”

Link smiled and nodded back. “Okay.”

Then he began easing forward, intending to rise to his feet.

Suddenly, Ezra snapped, “No.”

He grabbed Link’s wrist in one hand and grumbled, “Oh, hell, no.”

Confused, thinking they’d been on the same page, Link froze. “What?”

What did that mean?

“You’re not leaving me to go hiking with a hard-on,”

Ezra snapped, clearly annoyed. He scowled up at him while waving his free hand toward his groin. “What happened to wanting to please me and make me happy?”

“Uhhhh...”

Oh, real eloquent, Link.

His mental fumbling didn’t stop Link from allowing his attention to stray where Ezra had indicated. Spotting the blatant, tell-tale bulge behind his mate’s fly, he sucked in a sharp breath. That filled his lungs with the heady goodness of his human’s arousal—masculine, slightly musky, and oh-so-delicious.

“Oh,”

Link whispered.

Yeah, still real eloquent.

“You said Fate helps us push through inhibitions we might otherwise have, right?”

Link could just nod at Ezra’s question, his gaze riveted to the visual proof of his mate’s desire. He licked his lips, praying to whatever gods cared to listen that his human was about to ask him for what he hoped. His mouth watered with his desire to taste, and his own prick jerked behind the thin fabric of his jogging shorts.

“You’ve been rubbing my chest, my back, my arm, my thigh—”

Ezra paused, hesitating, before he looked Link in the eye. “I invited you over for a one-night stand that first day. I know you didn’t miss that.”

“I didn’t,”

Link murmured, grimacing. “I hated having to say no.”

“So, don’t say no now, Link.”

Ezra cupped himself, blatantly outlining his hard dick. “I don’t wanna hike with a hard-on, so how about you suck me off?”

Groaning, Link felt a bead of pre-cum ooze from his dick. “My pleasure,”

he growled, twisting where he sat.

More than on board with Ezra’s idea, Link moved a hand to Ezra’s shoulder. He pushed back gently, urging his mate to recline on the sleeping bag. To his pleasure, Ezra relaxed and watched Link with a sexy, heavy-lidded expression, the skin of his neck and cheeks flushing darker.

“You’re so fucking sexy,”

Link muttered as he reached for Ezra’s fly. “Can’t wait to taste.”

Link made quick work of Ezra’s button and zipper. He reveled in the sound of his human’s sharp, panting breaths as he gripped the shorts, as well as the waistband of the boxer-briefs he found beneath, pulling them forward and down. Upon seeing Ezra’s slender rod bounce free, Link moaned appreciatively, nearly drowning out his mate’s quiet grunt.

Licking his lips, Link admired the maybe eight-inch shaft jutting from Ezra’s neatly trimmed thatch. His mate’s prick was slender with a red-hued, bulbous head. As Link watched, a bead of pre-cum gleamed from the wide slit.

“Gorgeous,”

Link whispered before lowering his head.

Instead of opening his mouth and tasting Ezra’s dick, Link pressed his nose to the groove of his hip. He nuzzled what he knew was sensitive flesh by the sound of his mate’s hiss. Smiling, Link pressed a kiss to his new lover’s smooth flesh.

Upon feeling the shudder that traveled through Ezra’s body, coupled with his grumbled words of, “Stop teasing,”

Link chuckled and moved his hands to his human’s slender hips, holding him in place.

“Patience, my mate,”

Link rumbled, licking and nipping over his groin so his bearded cheek nuzzled against Ezra’s shaft. “We’ll get there.”

Then Link pressed his nose deep into his man’s pubes while inhaling noisily. His mate’s musky fragrance invaded his senses, causing his cock to twitch and throb. He let his breath out on an appreciative moan.

“So good, Ezra,”

Link mumbled, lapping around the base of his man’s shaft. “So, so good.”

“Link,”

Ezra whined, trembling beneath him. “Come on, man.”

Chuckling huskily, Link took pity on Ezra...and gave himself what he wanted as well—to taste his mate. He stuck out his tongue and swiped up his human’s dick in a long, slow glide. Ezra’s flavor burst across his taste buds, lighting them up and making him crave even more.

Link took a few seconds to pause just below the cap so he could suckle lightly on Ezra’s frenulum. The sound of Ezra’s moan of pleasure was music to his ears, sending his pride soaring...as well as his heartrate. Giving in to his own desire, Link finally wrapped his lips around Ezra’s swollen crown and lapped across his pre-cum dampened flesh.

The flavor of Ezra’s lightly salted pre-cum burst across Link’s taste buds, and he hummed appreciatively.

His mate groaned, obviously appreciating the extra stimulation.

Link smiled around his mouthful before sinking down, taking Ezra’s cock to the root. With his mate’s crown lodged in his throat, Link swallowed around it once, twice. Humming, he vibrated his mate’s shaft.

Ezra shuddered and tried to buck with the pleasure Link was giving him. Holding him down, Link sucked strongly as he eased partway off his lover’s delicious shaft. Another spurt of pre-cum hit his tongue, and he swallowed quickly before sinking back down and taking him deeply once more.

Link sucked and bobbed, licking along his flesh, stimulating every inch he could. At the top, Link pressed against his frenulum before sliding over his crown. On each downstroke, Link buried his nose in Ezra’s pubes while swallowing around his knob.

At the same time, Link slid a hand down and cradled Ezra’s ball sack. He used the hold to gauge how close his lover was to coming. As a long groan escaped Ezra, Link felt the man’s testicles pulling tight.

Peering up Ezra’s body, Link admired his flushed face and heavy-lidded expression. His lover had his head thrown back, and he squeezed the sleeping bag in a white-knuckled grip. He gritted his teeth around a groan, growling Link’s name—in warning or pleasure, Link didn’t know and didn’t care. He just reveled in the bliss-tortured sound.

As Ezra’s cock began to spurt, Link eased partway off so the creamy goodness would hit his tongue. He hummed and swallowed, enjoying the salty flavor of his mate’s seed. Doing his best to extend his lover’s pleasure, Link rolled Ezra’s balls gently, urging another burst from him.

The sight, sound, and flavor hit Link’s senses like a freight train. He felt his own balls pull tight, and he groaned with pleasure. Link had just enough time to shove the band of his shorts down before his orgasm hit, and he released into the grass beneath him, barely missing the end of the sleeping bag.

As shudders worked through Link, he released Ezra’s cock and pressed his forehead to his mate’s hip. He breathed slow and deep, trying to catch his breath as endorphins pinged through his system. Link hummed as he floated, taking a moment to enjoy their intimacy.

After Link didn’t know how long, he felt Ezra’s hands on his bald head. He glided his fingertips over his scalp, tentative at first, but soon with more certainty. Ezra petted him, and Link smiled, relishing his mate’s light touches.

Finally, Link lifted his head and smiled up at Ezra, meeting his green-eyed gaze.

“You taste fantastic, my mate,”

Link rumbled, licking his lips appreciatively. “Can’t wait to do that again.”

Ezra offered him a small smile. “Yeah?”

“Oh, yeah,”

Link confirmed, pressing a kiss to Ezra’s bare hip. “Enjoyed that oh-so-much. Thank you.”

Chuckling softly, Ezra murmured, “Pretty sure I should be saying that to you.”

Link winked. “Next time.”

Furrowing his brows, Ezra asked hesitantly, “So, uh, you don’t want my help with—”

He lifted a hand and waved toward Link’s body.

Realizing what Ezra meant, Link grinned broadly and winked. “No need.”

Completely unabashed about his enjoyment, he told him, “Your taste, your cries, so good I came from sucking you off.”

“Seriously?”

Ezra sounded shocked. When Link grinned and nodded in confirmation, his mate muttered, “Damn.”

Link laughed as he bussed another kiss to the smooth skin of Ezra’s hip. Then he couldn’t help himself, and he crawled up his mate’s body so he could capture his mouth. For just an instant, Link felt Ezra stiffen beneath him, but to his pleasure, after a few seconds, his human relaxed and returned his kiss.

Hell yeah.