Page 16 of Hunted Ink

“Hmm, that depends on you.” Tilting his head back, I buried my nose in the crook of his neck where his scent was strongest, breathing deep, then licked up the entire column of his throat, his whiskers rasping over my tongue. He whimpered. I’d never played like this before. I was all about consent and communication, though he’d made it clear this was what he wanted. “What do you want me to do?”

“Anything… Everything,” he said, breathless.

“That leaves a lot of possibilities,” I purred. Kissing him seemed like the best place to start, though.

Brushing my lips softly over his, I told myself to go slow. A first kiss should be special, cherished, something that could never be repeated. If we’d never been separated, our first kiss would’ve happened years ago. We’d likely have been mated now, with our own cabin on the Red River pack land, a whole passel of pups. That kind of legacy deserved reverence, and that meant taking our time. But then his sharp scent burst in my mouth as I swept my tongue across his plump lower lip, and I was helpless to stop the all-consuming urge to deepen it and claim him at long last.

How could I have been so naïve to think a few pots of herbs were a substitute for what I’d truly been missing all this time? I swallowed his guttural groan as we tumbled into the kiss. He was eager, and it was clear he didn’t have a lot of experience, but I had no problem leading the way. I controlled the pace, with my fingers tugging his hair, and slowed things down, exploring his mouth properly. His lips softened under mine, and when I pulled back and opened my eyes, he looked almost drunk as he chased after me as far as his bonds would allow.

His eyes remained dazed and heavy-lidded, and the ropes creaked when he couldn’t stop himself from testing their limits. “Your tongue…” he rasped.

My smile turned sly. “Mm-hm, it’s pierced too.” I wondered if he would like what else I could do with it.

I moved slowly, giving him lots of time to say no, walking my fingers up his chest, then one by one, I undid the buttons on that garish neon patterned shirt, exposing his chest. As I peeled the sides of the shirt aside, my eyes were drawn to a tattoo of that same symbol as on his necklace, the Divine Order’s crest, branded right over his heart. I hated that they’d claimed him first, when he was very clearly mine.

I pushed the shirt back over his shoulders but no further, blocked by his restraints. Gods, he was thick. There was a generous sprinkle of dark hair over his beefy pecs, leading in a trail down the center of his hard abs. I tried very hard not to think about the training that led to a body like this, then hunched down to flick my piercing across his nipple, before nipping it with my teeth.

His groan was vulgar, eyes drifting shut. “Gods, I wish I could touch you,” he spat out through gritted teeth, flexing his hips beneath me.

“Does it matter which part of you touches me?” I asked coyly, arching my brow as I trailed my fingers down his treasure trail. The tented denim jumped as his cock bounced, and if that wasn’t enough invitation, his nod to continue certainly would’ve done it.

It took very little effort to pop the flimsy button on his jeans, and I reached in to find him rock-hard and weeping for me. The skin of his cock was velvety smooth, and I could feel his pulse chasing after mine.

Giving my mate a hand job wasn’t anywhere near enough to tame the need burning through me, and so with my free hand, I tugged open my coveralls where I’d tied the sleeves around my waist and pulled my own dick out, shifting forward in Apollo’s lap to line our shafts up side by side.

Apollo was watching all this with helpless desperation, his breathing ragged. “Spit,” I instructed, holding up my palm, and he obeyed without question. It was a poor substitute for lube or slick, but it was enough to offer a bit of glide as I wrapped my fist snugly around us both.

With the first pump of my hand, Apollo gasped. With the second, it was a low moan. By the time I hit five, he threw his head back, cursing loudly.

I stilled my hand and gave him a mock stern glare. “Shh, the neighbors might hear you.” I didn’t care much if they did, but this felt like part of the game. “Do you think you can be quiet, or should I put the gag back in?”

Apollo whimpered then nodded vigorously, not even pretending that he could be quiet. “The gag.” Holy shit, this was turning into every fantasy I never knew I had. Who knew how ridiculously hot it would be when an alpha handed me control over his pleasure. I slid the gag back between his lips.

With our dicks side by side, I found a rhythm. A harmony, a cadence where we locked together, not just in bodies but in souls. I tried to pace myself, but it was so hard when all I wanted was to watch my mate fall apart, to learn every minute expression of ecstasy that passed over his face. The entire time, Apollo watched the movement of my hand in fascination, slowly driven mad, his whines and moans building even around the gag.

I could see the strain of his jaw as he bit down on the gag, trying his best to fuck up into my hand, but I had him thoroughly pinned and at my mercy. He whimpered a muffled plea, eyes rolling back, and I was tempted to draw this out even longer, but I couldn’t torture myself like that, not when my own climax was already cresting.

“Fuck, alpha, I’m close,” I hissed, my hand pumping us both at a furious pace. I pulled his head back by his hair, exposing his neck, and nipped at him with my teeth. My gums ached, longing to sink my teeth into him and claim him fully, but I couldn’t do that to him. Not until his own wolf could be a part of the conversation.

Balls clenching, I came hard enough to see stars. My rhythm faltered, but with my cum adding extra lubrication, Apollo fell apart a few seconds later with a barely muffled roar.

It took me a second to come back down to earth. Panting, dizzy in my euphoria, I reached up clumsily and pulled down his gag, and he took a heaving breath, dropping his forehead to my shoulder. “Holy shit. Is it just me or was that the best orgasm ever.” His voice was a low, sexy rasp from screaming.

I toyed with the sweaty hair at the back of his neck with my fingers. “Not just you.” Leaning into him, our softening cum-drenched dicks sandwiched between us, I reached behind him to loosen the ropes, and he groaned, shaking the circulation back into his hands.

“We should definitely do that again,” I said with a throaty chuckle.

Something about what I said had Apollo emerging quickly from the haze, pleasure being replaced with dawning panic in the blink of an eye. “Shit, what time is it?” He planted his hands on my ass and stood, taking me with him with ease, all power dynamics restored to their default setting. He set me gently back on my feet. “I have to go, or they’ll think I’m trying to run.”

That sobered me up like a bucket of ice water, my smile evaporating. “We could, you know. Run.”

His hands paused where he’d been tucking himself back into his pants, and he looked up at me with the largest green eyes, all innocent disbelief. “You would do that? Leave your life for me?”

I didn’t even hesitate. “Without question. You’re my alpha, my mate.” Of course, he was also my capital-A Alpha, which meant that what was left of our pack would want to run with us, but that was maybe a bit too much to dump on him all at once.

His face fell in sadness. “I wish I could, but I can’t. If what you said is true and there are other shifters trapped there… I can’t just leave them behind like that. There are kids there!” Spoken like a true Alpha, and as much as I hated that, I respected it too.

“I understand. I will wait for you, no matter how long it takes. You’re an Alpha—my Alpha—through and through. I would never ask you to leave anyone behind.”