Noah Read online

  Zach beamed. “Thank you. He’s had a really hard time, and even if Erskine isn’t here anymore, Rick still has it bad. He should have friends.”

  “I’m not telling you we’ll be BFFs, you know.”

  “But you’ll try.”

  Duncan sighed. “Fine, I’ll try. I don’t mind, you know, but I won’t force him to talk to me if he doesn’t want to.”

  “I know, that’s why I asked you. You’re a gentle soul, Duncan. I’m glad you found your soul mate. You deserve it.”

  Zach walked away, leaving a stumped Duncan behind. It wasn’t every day that someone told him that, and the fact that it’d come from Zach made it special.

  Duncan looked at his mate, and since the man was still immersed in his conversation, he decided to start working on Rick right away. He headed to the kitchen and stopped at the door, smiling at the sight in front of him.

  The last thing he’d expected was to catch Rick dancing and singing while he cooked, but it was exactly what he was looking at. The man had earphones in and was shaking his ass in front of the counter while using a weird pocket to make little lumps on a baking tray.

  To Duncan’s surprise, Rick didn’t stutter when he sang. Duncan wouldn’t have believed it if he hadn’t seen it, but Rick’s voice was incredible. It was deep and flowed exactly as it should, cooking and dancing notwithstanding. Duncan didn’t think he’d ever seen Rick so carefree and happy. The last thing he wanted was to interrupt him, so he turned around to leave.

  “C-c-c-can I help you?”

  Duncan faced Rick. The ear buds were swinging in front of his waist now, the sound of music coming from them loud enough that Duncan could hear it even from where he was. Rick didn’t look happy anymore, or at least Duncan didn’t think so. It was hard to tell when the man’s eyes were hidden under a curtain of chestnut hair, but Duncan could see Rick was blushing, even if his eyes were fastened on the floor. That and the way he was wringing his hands together were big clues of his uneasiness.

  “I’m fine. I just wanted to compliment the cook.”

  Stunned ice-blue eyes appeared when Rick suddenly looked up and his hair parted to the sides. “R-r-r-really?”

  “Yup. I love those pastries with the raspberry on top. You did that on your own?”

  Rick nodded.

  “I’d ask you to give me the recipe, but I don’t think it would be safe for me. I suck at baking.”

  “I c-c-c-could t-t-t-teach you. I-i-i-if you want.”

  Duncan grinned. “That would be great! That way I could use the sweets to bribe my mate.”

  “I d-d-d-don’t think you n-n-n-need to bribe him. I s-s-s-saw how he l-l-l-looks at you.”

  “Ah, thanks, I guess. Why don’t you come out there? I’m sure I’m not the only one who wants to compliment you.”

  “I’d r-r-r-rather not, thank y-y-y-you.”

  Duncan hadn’t expected it to be easy, but he wanted to make a step forward. He sat in one of the chairs by the table, careful not to move too fast when he saw Rick move backward. “I know we don’t know each other, but I’ll be there if you need to talk.”

  “W-w-w-why?”

  “Because even if I don’t know your story, Kameron wouldn’t let you stay free or cook for the council if he didn’t trust you. That means you’re a pack member just like all the others, and that you can ask if you need anything.”

  Rick looked at Duncan through his hair for a while and Duncan thought the man would say no, but Rick extended him his hand instead. “T-t-t-thank you. I’ll d-d-d-do that.”

  “Great!”

  Duncan rose from the chair and Rick took a step backward, but no more. He kept his stance and waited for Duncan to shake his hand, then nodded. “N-n-n-now you have t-t-t-to go. I n-n-n-need to cook.”

  Duncan took a risk and leaned closer. He wrapped Rick in a hug that lasted only a few seconds. The man didn’t even have time to panic before it was over, and Duncan felt pleased with himself.

  “W-w-w-why did you do t-t-t-that?”

  Duncan shrugged. “I told you, you’re part of the pack. You’ll learn I’m touchy-feely soon enough, so get used to it.”

  With that, Duncan left, but not without noticing the small smile that appeared on Rick’s lips. He exited the kitchen and looked for his mate, finding him deep in conversation with what seemed to be a biker. The guy had it all—leather jacket, piercings, tattoos, boots. That didn’t mean he wasn’t hot as hell, because he was, but Duncan hoped he wasn’t hitting on Noah.

  He neared them and slid an arm around his mate’s waist while offering the other man his hand. “I’m Duncan.”

  The guy shook. “Cole.”

  “Wait, Cole? You mean Cole the council member?” Duncan had never met him because the man always seemed to be away on some business when he happened to be at one of the council’s meeting.

  “Yeah. I get that reaction a lot.”

  “I’m not surprised.”

  The man laughed, the sound loud even with the other conversations taking place in the room. He leaned forward, maybe to answer Duncan, but froze in his path. “Is Noah your mate?”

  “Uh, yes.”

  “Who else did you touch?”

  Duncan saw Noah’s eyes widen. “Hey, I didn’t touch anyone, not like you’re thinking!”

  Cole narrowed his eyes “I didn’t mean that, but I really hope you didn’t touch my mate in a sexual way. It wouldn’t be good for you.”

  “Mate?”

  “Yeah. Now, tell me who it is.”

  “I’ll tell you, but you’ll have to listen to me first.” Duncan had been close enough only to Noah and Rick, and since Cole’s mate obviously couldn’t be Noah... he had to warn Cole that Rick would probably be scared of him and that he would have to take it slow. Very slow.

  Awww, poor Rick. This isn’t going to be easy for him.

  Chapter Seven

  “Can I take it off now?”

  “Nope. You have to wait until I say you can.”

  Noah huffed, but he didn’t try to take the blindfold off. Duncan had burst into the kitchen of the Alpha’s house while Noah was trying to learn how to cook something basic—it hadn’t gone well, so he hadn’t minded Duncan’s interruption. Duncan had told Noah he had something to show him and had insisted on the blindfold, and there they were.

  Noah had no idea where there was, but it wasn’t far from Kameron’s house, since they’d walked. He listened to Duncan’s steps moving away, then back. He grabbed Noah’s arm and guided him forward. “There are steps, be careful.”

  “How many?”

  “Umm, six.”

  Noah counted as he climbed them but still managed to stumble on the last one. Luckily for him, Duncan’s hand never left him and held him up when he needed it.

  “We’re going inside, okay?”

  “Sure.”

  Noah let his mate guide him, his tail swishing behind them with a bit of irritation. He was sure Duncan knew how he felt, but he didn’t react except to chuckle.

  Noah was thoroughly confused by the time Duncan’s hold on him tightened and he said, “Stop here.” He disappeared from Noah’s side right after that and didn’t come back.

  Noah was starting to get nervous but he finally heard footsteps he prayed were his mate’s. “Duncan?”

  “Sorry, sorry. I dropped the, well, I dropped one of the things I needed and it broke so I had to pick the pieces up.”

  “Okay. Can I take it off now?”

  “Not yet. I’m nearly done, I swear.”

  Noah started tapping his foot on the floor while Duncan moved away again, but this time he didn’t go far. Noah could still hear him moving around the house and he opened his eyes under the blindfold. It was dark, but soon enough, a light flickered into existence, then another.

  Noah couldn’t see anything else, not even when the number of lights increased. They were too small and flickerish for him to see the room. The
re was a rattle, the sound of something heavy knocking on another surface, then a whoosh to Noah’s right. “What’s that?”

  “I know I should have lighted this before, but I was busy.”

  “What’s this, Duncan?”

  “You’ll see. I’m about done, don’t worry.”

  Noah waited a few more minutes, then finally Duncan came closer again. “All done?”

  Duncan moved behind Noah and untied the blindfold. He didn’t let it fall right away, keeping it up with one hand instead while the other one wrapped around Noah’s waist and pulled him even closer to Duncan’s hard body. “Yeah, all done.” Duncan’s warm breath on his ear made Noah shiver, and Duncan chuckled at the reaction.

  “Can I see, then?”

  “So impatient.”

  Noah smirked and used his tail to slap his mate’s ass. Duncan yelped, but Noah knew he hadn’t hurt him. They hadn’t played with his tail much yet, but he had found out that Duncan didn’t mind a little spanking every now and then.

  The blindfold fell and Noah blinked. They were in their home, but it wasn’t like the last time Noah had seen it.

  The fireplace was lit and he could see that its renovation was over, even if he knew it had been only half finished when he’d left the house some hours ago. And the furniture... the furniture that should have arrived the next day was already there. The dark wood coffee table in front of the fireplace was covered in small tea candles, except for the middle of it. That held a huge bouquet of flowers.

  The leather couch and the two armchairs they’d chosen were in place around the table, the bookshelves were heavy with books, and several of Noah’s paintings decorated the blank spaces on the walls. “What... what did you do?”

  “I wanted to surprise you.”

  “Oh. It’s... incredible.” Noah chuckled. “You did manage to surprise me.”

  Soft lips pressed against the side of Noah’s neck, quickly followed by a moist tongue. Duncan traced the edges of the mating bite on Noah’s skin, first with his tongue, then with his teeth. That did it for Noah.

  He swirled around in his mate’s arms and threw himself against Duncan. Duncan wasn’t expecting it and lost his balance, nearly falling on his ass. Noah laughed and grabbed both his forearms, then tugged as hard as he could. “Sorry.”

  “It’s okay. I hoped you’d be happy, but I wasn’t expecting you to throw me on the floor.”

  “I didn’t mean to do it.” Noah took his mate’s hand and guided him to one of the armchairs. He pushed Duncan, gently this time, until the man sat in front of the fire. It really wasn’t necessary—it was summer after all—but Noah had to admit it made everything else look even better than it would have without that small touch.

  Noah kneeled in front of Duncan. “I want you. Any way you want, forever.”

  One of Duncan’s hands slid on his face and tilted his chin up. Then Noah was being kissed greedily until he was out of breath. Duncan broke away and said, “Not like this.”

  “What?”

  Duncan rose and pulled Noah with him, and Noah felt a wash of relief that quickly turned to craving as Duncan’s lips found his again.

  “Carpet. In front of the fire. Want to see your skin in the firelight.” Duncan muttered when they came up for air and nudged Noah in that direction. Duncan never stopped kissing him and Noah’s hands were first around his back, then tugging at his clothing, so they were tripping over half-dropped jeans and discarded shoes. Noah felt the soft feeling of fur under his soles and looked down. “I don’t remember choosing this.” It was white and very cliché, but Noah already loved it anyway.

  “That’s because you didn’t, but as soon as I saw the fireplace I knew I’d have to have you like this, in front of it. I couldn’t very well take you on the parquet, could I?” Duncan asked with a smirk Noah wanted to kiss away.

  They tossed the rest of their clothes in careless heaps behind them and Noah found himself flattened on the soft carpet with Duncan’s fingers linked through his own, pinning his hands beside his head. Duncan’s foot was stroking along his calf as he licked and sucked and bit at Noah’s jaw, earlobe and throat.

  “I want to fuck you,” Duncan murmured directly into Noah’s ear, making Noah groan and thrust up mindlessly, “—but first I want you in my mouth. I want you mindless with pleasure before I take you.”

  He released Noah’s hands and crawled to the side, turning around so that his legs were above Noah’s head as he reached for Noah’s cock. Sliding his hands around Duncan’s firm ass to pull him closer, Noah licked the side of the thick erection protruding between his mate’s thighs. He had to take one of his hands off Duncan’s ass to push the foreskin out of the way, then he wrapped it around the lower part of Duncan’s cock. He knew he’d never be able to take too much of it in his mouth, not without more practice.

  Duncan had started slowly, licking the wetness leaking from Noah’s cock and sucking only the head, but by the time Noah had established his own rhythm of sucking and stroking, he’d started to take Noah deeper. They both discovered quickly that in that particular position, thrusting didn’t work. It only led to gagging and the threat of biting, so they both tried to keep their hips as still as possible as their hands and mouths moved on one another—not that it was easy.

  One of Duncan’s hands fondled Noah’s balls as they pulled up tighter against his body. He stretched the skin gently, then teased behind, dipping down to flirt with his hole. Noah groaned around his mouthful and felt Duncan’s cock twitch on his tongue. He lapped at it greedily, tasting sweat, salt, musk and man, and was pleased when Duncan moaned as well.

  Duncan let his cock go too soon for Noah’s taste. Noah reluctantly did the same, even though he wanted to continue sucking on Duncan until he came in his mouth. It clearly wasn’t what Duncan wanted, though.

  Duncan swung around and kissed him hungrily, rubbing their cocks together. “Legs up.”

  Noah lifted his knees and held onto his thighs, opening himself wide to Duncan’s gaze. As soon as his legs were in the air, he realized they didn’t have lube. He expected Duncan to get up and disappear in another room, but he reached for the small drawer in the coffee table instead.

  “You were prepared.”

  “Of course I was. I hope you don’t mind,” he said in a velvety voice, then nudged one finger into Noah, leaning over him and looking into his eyes.

  Noah didn’t know what kind of lube it was, but it tingled cool and pleasant as Duncan entered his hole, adding a second finger quickly, then a third. Noah tried to squirm further down, to push into the digits, and Duncan chuckled. “Another time I’ll make you come like this, just with my hand.” A flash of an image of Noah with Duncan’s hand in him past the wrist passed through Noah’s mind and he whimpered. He didn’t know where that had come from and he pushed the idea away, for now.

  Duncan released Noah and reached for the lube again.

  “No. Let me,” Noah said, sitting halfway up to take the bottle from Duncan. The man looked at him with hungry eyes, as if he wanted to eat Noah up.

  Slicking his fingers, Noah wrapped his hand around Duncan’s rigid cock and stroked slowly up and down, spreading the cool lube and drawing a quiet moan from Duncan. “Noah...”

  Noah released Duncan’s cock and lay back, spreading himself as wide as possible as Duncan’s welcome warm weight pressed against him. They exchanged one last sloppy kiss as one of Duncan’s hands slid around Noah’s ass while the other moved his thick cock to rub against his hole.

  “Want you,” Noah whispered again, and Duncan trembled against him as he nodded and began to push inside. He raised his legs, hooking them over Duncan’s back and wordlessly urged him deeper. Duncan’s hair—in need of a good cut—fell in front of his face, and Noah lifted a hand to brush it back, tucking it behind his ears though he knew it wouldn’t stay there, not with the way that Duncan was rocking in and out of him. His own cock was aching, hard against his stomach, an
d he slid his hand between their bodies. He began to stroke it in time with Duncan’s thrusts, then thought about something and stopped. Doing his best to ignore what Duncan was doing to him, he grabbed the bottle of lube and slicked one of his palms, then spread the lube over the tip of his tail.

  Duncan’s eyes widened when he saw what Noah was doing, but he didn’t protest, not even when Noah let his tail go and slid it around their joined bodies. He lowered one hand and used it to open Duncan’s ass cheeks, then slid his tail between them. It wasn’t hard to find what he was looking for.

  Duncan’s thrusts slowed down but never stopped, not even when Noah breached him with the tip of his tail. Noah moaned loudly. He’d never felt anything so hot or tight, and he couldn’t help but wonder how it would feel to sink his cock inside instead of his tail.

  Pushing even deeper, he searched for Duncan’s prostate, smiling when Duncan jerked and moaned. Duncan started moving again and Noah couldn’t keep the same rhythm anymore, but he kept his tail right where it was anyway, flicking the tip over his mate’s gland.

  “Fuck, Duncan,” he panted. “So good—oh fuck yes!” Noah hissed the last word as Duncan changed angles and brushed his prostate, sending little shocks through his nerves.

  “Wait for me, Noah,” Duncan grunted before repeating the movement until Noah was writhing underneath him, frantic to come, ready to do anything to reach the peak.

  “Please,” he whispered.

  Noah thought hazily, focused on Duncan’s face to stop himself from coming alone. He grabbed his cock with his already slicked hand when he felt Duncan’s rhythm falter.

  “Noah,” Duncan muttered, and their gazes tangled together, nothing in Duncan’s emotions now but pleasure, bliss, completion. He felt Duncan go rigid at the same moment he did, felt Duncan’s climax in his mind at the same moment his fingers grew wet with his come. “Duncan.”

  Noah slowly slid his tail out of Duncan’s body and let it flop at his side as he tried to breathe. His legs were still clamped tight around Duncan’s back and he let them fall away so that Duncan could pull out when he was ready to. Duncan stayed pressed close against him for a little while, though, supporting himself on his elbows and leaving only a pleasant weight against Noah’s chest. They both ignored the stickiness of Noah’s spunk rubbing between them, spreading and drying, as they gazed into each other’s eyes.