Monsters and Mayhem

STORY EXCERPT

“Hi,” a small but confident voice said.

Samuel glanced up from the contemplation of his shoelaces and looked into the brightest lime-green eyes he’d ever seen. “Hello,” he said grudgingly. Samuel thought the person speaking to him was a child at first but quickly realized it was just a very small man. He doubted the top of the guy’s head even reached up to his pectorals when he was standing straight.

“I’m Coby, Coby Pherson.” He held out one small, delicate-looking hand.

Flashing his million-watt smile that he faked on a nightly basis, Samuel took the hand, gave it a perfunctory squeeze and released it quickly. “Samuel Anderson. Nice to meet you.”

“Liar,” Coby said with a coy smile. “You would rather be anywhere but here right now, and you can’t stand what we are.”

Samuel was stunned speechless for a second but quickly recovered. He’d been grilled by some of the toughest lobbyists out there. This little twerp with his dazzling smile and spikey black hair wasn’t going to rattle him. “Things are a little insane right now.” He dipped his head to indicate the chaos still swarming around them. “I’m just trying to keep out of the way.”

“Uh-huh.” Coby didn’t look like he was buying it for a second. “And what about the hating us part?”

“I don’t hate anyone,” Samuel replied flatly.

“Honey, I get the impression that you hate everyone, including yourself.” The little guy crossed his arms over his chest, mirroring Samuel’s pose. “Deny it.”

That sounded like a challenge, but Samuel wasn’t going to rise to the bait. Well, not much, anyway. “Do you have any idea who I am?”

“Samuel Anderson, Channel 9’s Paranormal Authority, leading the way to acceptance through understanding. I have never heard a bigger crock of shit in my life.”

“And just who the hell are you?” Samuel demanded, getting angrier the longer he conversed with the little snot.

“Oh, Sammy, we mustn’t get angry.” He stuck his nose in the air and sniffed haughtily before doubling over in laughter. “Why, I am Coby Pherson, Shifter Extraordinaire!” He gave an extravagant bow and twirled his hand showily.

Shifter? Samuel took in Coby’s tiny stature and tried not to snort. If the guy was trying to impress him with the information, he hadn’t succeeded. What the hell did he shift into anyway? A fucking hamster?

“Well, I can’t say it was a pleasure to meet you, but it was interesting. Good luck with whatever it is you’re doing here. I have to go find a mate.”

“You mean you have to trap someone into a life that they probably don’t want. Well, good luck with that as well.” Samuel didn’t pretend to understand about the whole mating thing, but he did know a thing or two about being forced to lead a life that he didn’t want. He wouldn’t wish that on anyone.

Coby shrugged, wiggled his fingers in farewell, and drifted off into the crowd of people. Samuel watched him go, his eyes zeroing in on the tight little ass encased in dark denim. The guy might be an arrogant prick, but he was a sexy one.

Pulling his voice recorder from his pocket, Samuel figured he might as well get to work. He was being paid to cover the event, not stand off to the side like a wallflower. Plastering a smile in his face that he didn’t feel, he pushed out of his corner and strode forward just as the elders emerged from the door off to the side of the dais.

“Good evening, gentlemen. I’m Samuel Anderson from Channel 9. I was wondering if you’d have time to answer a few questions for me.”

One of the elders broke away from the group, greeting him with a bright smile of his own. Falling into his routine, Samuel asked his questions, nodded as though he was interested, and said all the things that people liked to hear. While he performed flawlessly, he couldn’t help but cast covert glances out into the throng of people.

Things had calmed down for the most part, and those who hadn’t found a partner looked lost and afraid. He felt kind of sorry for them, but not terribly so. He had no doubt that each of them would find someone to accept them before their timeline expired. He still believed the entire mess was irresponsible, reckless, and downright tyrannical of the elders, but it was obvious that not everyone felt that way.

Many couples happily approached the stage to record their names in the large leather bound book with smiles on their faces. Some were a bit more reluctant, but Samuel could see the relief hidden beneath their cynicism. And really, what was the alternative? Death? Given the choice, Samuel knew he’d choose an unhappy life with a complete stranger over utter annihilation.

ADULT EXCERPT

“You can run along now.” Coby made a shooing gesture with his hand and turned away from him.

Something snapped inside Samuel at the dismissal, and he growled as he dove on top of Coby. Without a word, he grabbed the man’s small wrists and held them together over his head while he lined up the crown of his lubed cock with the man’s tight entrance.

Coby’s eyes went wide and his eyebrows shot up toward his hairline. The look lasted only a second before his head fell back on his shoulders, and he cried out to the ceiling when Samuel surged into him, encasing his cock in Coby’s silky heat.

When his brain finally caught up with his actions, Samuel froze, feeling like the biggest scum in the universe. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered. It was so grossly inadequate that he barely got the words through his lips.

He knew he was well endowed. Hell, it had even been a source of pride for him in his younger days. That he could lose control the way he had, taking Coby without properly stretching him first, was unacceptable. There was absolutely no good excuse for it.

Pushing up on his hands, he tried to ease out of Coby’s hole as gently as possible, but his lover was having none of it. His slender legs locked around Samuel’s hips, holding him firmly in place with a strength that belied his stature. “You didn’t hurt me,” he said seriously. “Don’t leave.”

It was the first thing he’d said that didn’t sound like a thinly veiled insult, and Samuel recognized the insecurity and vulnerability that lurked within the softly spoken words. While the new understanding didn’t instantly make everything okay, it did thaw some of the ice surrounding Samuel’s heart.

“Please,” Coby whispered. “Move.”

Unable to resist the sweet pleading, Samuel settled himself over his lover, bracing most of his weight on one hand while he used his other to cup the back of Coby’s head, lifting the man to his mouth.

He’d meant to go slowly, to show Coby that he was indeed capable of gentleness, but the first slide of his tongue over Coby’s sent his good intentions right out the window. It was like sticking his tongue to a battery, or maybe grabbing a bolt of lightning with his bare hands. His head spun, his balls rolled, and his cock swelled against Coby’s inner walls.

It didn’t help that his lover threw himself into the mating of their lips with enthusiasm and fervor. Moaning and writhing, he thrust back on Samuel’s length, impaling himself over and over while his hands mapped out every dip, valley, and curve of Samuel’s shoulders, back, and hips.

The velvety inferno encompassing his cock squeezed and relaxed, massaging him in waves and making his head spin. Reason and good sense abandoned him. Any misgivings fell to the wayside, and Samuel groaned in pleasure with every hard snap of his hips.

It wasn’t enough, though. He need more…harder…deeper. He wanted to possess Coby, dominate and own him. If the man did indeed belong to him for at least the next four years, he wanted to make damn sure that Coby didn’t forget it.

Pushing away from his lover, he sat up on his knees, gripped Coby’s hips in a bruising hold, and levered his lower body up from the mattress. Sweat glistened over Coby’s flushed face, his eyelids squeezed together tightly, and his weeping cock slapped against his lower abs, coating the clenching muscles with a smattering of pre-cum.

Samuel thrust faster—harder—pistoning his hips and plunging into Coby’s depths at a demanding tempo. The lust building inside of him was raw, untamed, and bordering on animalistic, pushing him into overdrive until his entire world narrowed to the place where their bodies joined.

When his spine tingled, his balls tightened, and his dick pulsed, signaling his impending climax, Samuel released Coby’s hips and covered his smaller body once more. “Open your eyes,” he demanded.

Coby’s eyes flew open, wide and desperate.

“That’s it. Right here. Look right here at me.” When Coby found his release, he’d know exactly who had given him such pleasure. “Are you going to come for me?”

Coby nodded eagerly, sobbing moans pouring from his kiss-swollen lips.

Insinuating a hand between them, Samuel palmed his lover’s heavy erection and stroked it from base to tip in time with his demanding thrusts. “Then come for me, Coby.” He twisted his wrist around the head and dipped his thumb into the slit. “Now.”

Hot and Cold

STORY EXCERPT

“Ryo Dantis and Theris Sikes,” Ryo practically yelled at the elder as he jogged up on the stage, pulling Theris along behind him.

“I’m going to shove my hand up your arse and make your mouth move like a bleedin’ puppet.” Theris jerked, putting on a good show of trying to free himself from Ryo. In all honesty, he could have just vanished from the room, and that would have taken care of everything.

He didn’t have time to play partner or cater to a mate, but there was something so compelling about Ryo. Theris couldn’t put a name to the golden-brown color of Ryo’s eyes, but, gods, they were breathtaking. They were somewhere between amber and caramel, like a flame seen through a bottle of scotch, and those amazing eyes pulled Theris in like ants to a picnic.

Before he could wrap his mind around what was happening, searing pain like he’d never felt before lanced over the skin on his left hip as though someone had poked him with a branding iron.

Ryo hissed in a breath through gritted teeth and released Theris to slap his palm over the side of his neck. When his hand dropped away, a small circular tattoo was revealed on his bronzed skin. At first glance, it resembled a Celtic knot, but when Theris looked closer, he saw they were actually letters, intricately woven together.

“Congratulations,” the elder said distractedly, not even looking up at them as he held out a plain envelope with the UPAC seal to Ryo. “Everything you need to know is there. Good luck.” He dismissed them with a flick of his wrist and turned to the woman standing next to them.

“That was easier than I expected.” Slipping the envelope into his back pocket, Ryo looked a bit disgruntled as he left the stage, heading toward the exit and still pulling Theris along behind him. “Walk faster.”

“What the hell crawled up your arse?” When he didn’t receive an answer, Theris twisted his wrist, disappeared, and reappeared in front of his new mate. Mate. Who the hell would have thought he’d have a mate? “Right, then,” he said as he slapped a hand to Ryo’s chest, stopping him in his tracks. “Do you mind telling me what the hell just happened back there?”

“Yes,” Ryo answered shortly, “I mind.”

Physically, Ryo was much bigger and much stronger than he. Magically, Ryo could warp perception, bend time, and just about anything he wanted to do, making him stronger in that aspect as well. Since Theris couldn’t get a lock on him, he could vanish right there on the spot, and he would never find the guy again.

That didn’t mean Theris was weak, though. “You made this bed. You’re just going to have to lie in it.” Preferably, that bed would contain both of them naked, but Theris kept that part to himself for the time being.

“Yes,” Ryo repeated. “Bed.”

Apparently, that little brand on his neck had melted his brain, because he wasn’t making a bit of sense. His skin was flushed, his eyes wide and a little glassy, and he was breathing erratically through his parted lips. If Theris didn’t know better, he’d think Ryo was having a heart attack. Since that couldn’t be right, the only other conclusion he could come to was that Ryo was extremely aroused.

“You drank the champagne,” he accused, though not harshly. If he hadn’t known ahead of time, he’d most likely have consumed the bewitched drink as well. “Is it bad?”

“I feel like I’m on fire,” Ryo answered, and he was beginning to pant. “My skin is crawling. My head is spinning.” He cupped the impressive bulge behind his zipper. “I think my dick is going to snap in two.”

“Well, are we mates or not?” It had been far too long since he’d had a good, hot bout of sweaty, biting, scratching, hair-pulling sex. “What are you waiting for, love?” Holding his arms out wide, Theris pouted his lips invitingly, giving himself over in offering. “Where’s your room?”

“Oh, sweet hell, look at your mouth.” Ryo groaned as he shoved the double doors open and propelled Theris through them. “And that ass,” he added, giving Theris’s bottom a hard swat and letting his hand linger to knead the muscles of his right cheek.

“Lead the way and be quick about it.” They needed to get somewhere—anywhere—and soon. While he wasn’t feeling the same fabricated need from the potion like Ryo, his whole body erupted with desire and need at the first feel of Ryo’s hands on him, the first hands to touch him intimately in nearly a decade.

“I can’t wait.” Ryo’s beautifully formed muscles quivered, and he began to sweat in earnest as though he was running for his life rather than walking briskly down a stone corridor.

Theris was anxious as well, but he couldn’t help but preen a little at Ryo’s eagerness. Not only had he gone without a warm touch for years, but never had anyone wanted him with such intensity. True, it was most likely related to the induction of the mating heat, but he’d leave that part out when he told the story later.

All the air rushed out of his lungs when his back met suddenly and forcefully with the wall of the corridor. Ryo lifted him off his feet, anchoring Theris to the wall with his larger body and attacking his mouth with a primal growl. Moaning into the kiss, Theris had just enough functioning brain cells left for the proverbial lightbulb to go off.

Ryo had meant his claim that he wouldn’t be able to wait until they made it to a suitable room quite literally. Whatever. It wasn’t like Theris was going to complain about being mauled by someone as drool-worthy as Ryo—even if it was rather public with people roaming up and down the hall.

ADULT EXCERPT

The heat pouring off his mate was unbelievable, almost scorching, but Theris gloried in every touch, every stroke of Ryo’s tongue inside his mouth. One hand tangled in the curls at the base of his skull, right over his nape, and tugged hard, pulling his head back on his shoulders. Ryo’s teeth scraped down the curve of his throat, not painfully, but hard enough to draw a strangled, ragged moan from Theris’s swollen lips.

The Djinn’s other hand slipped between their groins and gripped Theris’s aching cock through the confinement of his tight jeans. “These have to go,” Ryo rasped against the damp skin along the underside of his jaw. With only that bit of warning, there was a loud ripping sound, and the denim along the seam split, sending cool air rushing over his suddenly exposed hole. “No underwear. I like.” There was definitely a smile in the man’s voice.

“Glad you approve.” Panting heavily, Theris arched his back and rocked, rubbing his throbbing cock over Ryo’s abs. Unmitigated, erotic desire coursed through him, burning his skin and boiling his blood. Gods, he’d never been manhandled or dominated. No one had ever controlled him—owned him—in the way Ryo was doing, and he absolutely loved it.

Nimble fingers had his jeans undone swiftly, and Ryo’s warm hand fished his prick from its trappings, giving it a long, slow squeeze as he stroked from root to crown. The fingers tangled in Theris’s hair released him and slid around to tap at his lips. Once he opened, Ryo pushed in two fingers to rub over his slippery tongue.

“I’m not going to take you with just spit, cher,” he assured when Theris furrowed his brow. “Suck on them.” The authority in his tone held no room for argument, and Theris shuddered hard as he wrapped his lips around the digits.

Ryo continued to jerk his cock as he watched Theris through hooded eyes, bringing him right to the edge and then backing off before he could tumble over it. “That’s good, cher.” He pulled his hand away and pressed their mouths together, tracing Theris’s top lip with the tip of his tongue in a light, teasing brush. “You want more?”

Was the man insane? “Yes,” Theris breathed.

“Then you’re going to have to take it.” He rimmed the fluttering muscles of Theris’s hole as he spoke, wetting them carefully before pushing in the tip of one digit. “Unbutton me and pull my cock free.”

Again, the order sent a shock of desire straight to Theris’s groin as he fumbled to obey. With his hands shaking and their bodies pressed so tightly together, it wasn’t an easy feat, made even more complicated by Ryo’s lack of help. After a few awkward moments, though, he managed to accomplish his goal, nearly swallowing his tongue when he got his first feel of Ryo’s impressive length.

Hard as stone yet velvety smooth, Ryo’s thick cock pulsed against his palm. The vein that ran along the side of the shaft stood out in sharp relief, and Theris traced it with his thumb until he reached the spongy tip. A very unmanly whimper bubbled up in his throat as he smeared pre-cum from the slit around the crown and Ryo growled provocatively in his ear.

Another finger slid into his entrance alongside the other, twisting and scissoring as Ryo stretched the guarding ring. “Close your eyes,” he whispered a moment later as he extracted his digits and batted Theris’s hand away from his cock.

Doing as he’d been commanded, Theris lowered his eyelids and dropped his head back to rest against the wall behind him. The thick helmet of his lover’s dick pressed insistently against his opening, slowing invading his depths, and a quiet panic began to well up inside him. “Ryo?”

“Easy, cher. Keep breathing.” Soft, moist lips fluttered over the corner of his lips. The act was so tender that Theris melted right there on the spot. “I would never hurt you.”

While he didn’t think that man would hurt him purposely, having his ass reamed with no lubrication after a ten-year dry spell wasn’t going to be a walk in the park. Still, he kept his eyes closed and breathed evenly, even if he was digging his fingers into Ryo’s shoulders with enough force to leave bruises.

All of his worries were completely unfounded, though. His mate’s length slid in easily without resistance, causing not even the slightest twinge of pain. Once he was buried to the hilt, there was only a second of pause before Ryo pulled out and then slammed back in, swiveling his hips as he grinded his groin against Theris’s ass.

“Gods, I love magic.” Only a magic user would be able to produce the slick lubrication from nothing more than air.

Ryo’s deep, rumbling laughter filled his ears as his massive body shook around him. “I would never hurt you,” he repeated in a ragged whisper. “Open your eyes now. Watch them watch you.”

Blinking his eyelids open, it took a moment to focus, but once his eyes had adjusted, Theris grinned at the three men standing only a few feet from them, watching with rapt attention. “I guess we better give them a good show.” He wasn’t embarrassed in the least. Sex was a natural part of life, and if these blokes wanted to watch, Theris wanted to be seen.

“Mmm, I like the way you think.” The harder Ryo’s dick got, the thicker his accent became, so that “the” sounded like ze.

An instant later, Theris was completely nude, his sweat-slicked skin glistening in the overhead lights. The fact that Ryo was still fully dressed, with only his cock exposed from his slacks, just made the scene more erotic. Theris knew a few tricks of his own, but he was nowhere as gifted as Ryo. He wasn’t jealous, though. It was proving very beneficial to their relationship.

“Hold on to me, Theris.” With just that bit of warning, Ryo began a hard, swift assault, snapping his hips in lightning-fast strokes as he drove into Theris’s body.