Tim wasn’t sure if he wanted to punch Shane, or kiss him. Grief filled him, making him feel like he’d swallowed a handful of stones, but that wasn’t what prompted him to turn around. The animal inside him scratched at his control, whining and growling. The terrifyingly seductive energy of the bond teased at his mind, pushing and pushing. His animal howled, and he broke into pieces. He reached for Shane, somehow knowing the wolf was his only hope of remaining sane. His hands closed over the smaller man’s biceps. “You don’t know shit about my loss.” He shook Shane until the musician’s head snapped back.

Shane growled and grabbed Tim’s face, hard, palms pressing into his jaw. “Stop it! I wasn’t trying to hurt you and you know it.” His thumb slipped over Tim’s lip.

Tim froze. The tips of Shane’s fingers dug into his cheekbones like a man holding onto the edge of a cliff. The musician’s brown eyes glittered, and all Tim could do was stare at this guy who’d awakened long-suppressed urges with a single touch. He didn’t date. He didn’t want a male lover. He didn’t want sex at all, but his cock filled, and just like that, they were kissing. Tim groaned, shoving a leg between Shane’s thighs. The other man’s erection rubbed against his hip. “I’m not fucking gay,” he growled, biting at Shane’s lips.

“You’re lying to yourself,” Shane said, directly into Tim’s ear. “I can feel it.”

“Fucking bond,” Tim snarled, biting at Shane’s throat. “It’s there. I can feel it poking at my skull.” He closed his teeth on Shane’s skin. The man smelled like the desert: windy and hot and spicy, with a hint of blood behind it all. He licked where his teeth pressed, shuddering as he struggled to control himself. He couldn’t think anymore. His cock fucking hurt. He rubbed up against hot skin, shivering when Shane’s prick bumped his. His gums ached. He needed more.

“Oh Jesus. If you bite me, there’s no going back,” Shane said. He had a hand on Tim’s hip, and it felt better than good. Better than anything he remembered. All the hurried, quick sex with women and hand-jobs with other guys in the back of shitty bars faded into insignificance in comparison to the feeling of Shane’s palm on his fucking side. “Blood makes everything worse, Timmeu,” Shane added.

That use of his true name sent Tim from lust into rage and then back again to lust so fast his brain short-circuited. He closed his teeth over Shane’s throat and bit down, all thought of control gone. Shane moaned, shoving closer. Somehow, his fingers were now in Tim’s hair, pulling down, hard enough to bring tears to his eyes, not that he minded. The moment Shane’s blood hit his tongue, everything went white. The bond flared in his head and Shane twisted, then bit him on the shoulder.

Blood for blood, Tim thought, and then his animal howled with joy even as pain punched him in the spine. He groaned as liquid pleasure mixed with agony rushed through him, unlike anything he’d ever experienced. He sensed Shane’s loneliness, and his joy when he made music. Something inside him yearned toward that joy. He’d never let himself fall in love, never wanted to be so vulnerable, but this man, this wolf, could tip him over into it if he allowed it. He growled, licking over the wound he’d caused, and then his brain blew wide open.

“Oh fuck,” Shane muttered, panting.

Tim didn’t understand how Shane could speak. His animal snarled in his head, and then Shane did something with the bond, weaving energy into him. He couldn’t stop it. He didn’t want to stop it. Shane’s presence felt like everything he’d never had in his life: strong and balanced and fucking beautiful. “What did you do to me?”

“Not me,” Shane sent, hips still thrusting. “Not only me.”

Heat rushed down Tim’s spine, and he shoved until they were on the ground. Shane opened his legs and Tim thrust against him, ignoring the dirt and the rising sun shining in his eyes. He was almost there, but then Shane’s mind touched him, and flashes of his past hit Tim’s consciousness too fast for him to make sense of any it. His animal resisted, not liking this intimacy, but the pull was too strong. “I don’t want to bond,” he whispered, knowing it was a lie even as the words dropped from his lips. He bit Shane again.