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.”