His to Claim (6 page)

"We've got contacts in the prison
system," Derek assured Alex, apparently easily understanding his concern.
"They'll face a proper human trial, but their time in prison will be spent
in a place where being a shifter won't give them an advantage. Until then
they're being closely supervised."

"I don't think I want to know the
details," Alex said with a grim smile. "It's going to be hard enough
to testify as it is."

"We've got people working on a plea
bargain even as we speak. None of us really want a case like this to go to
trial."

"I guess not," Alex said with a
wry smile. "Thanks for your help." He offered his hand to Derek, who
shook it even as Kyle growled low in his throat, and then Alex turned his
attention to Kyle.

Kyle stared at the hand extended in front of
him, but didn't reach for it.

Alex shrugged and shoved his hand into his
pocket instead. "It's been…educational. Thanks for your help."

"That's it?" Kyle asked, unable to
contain the anger rolling through him. "That's all I get?"

Alex shook his head, apparently bewildered
by Kyle's attitude. It didn't help that Kyle couldn't explain where the raw
emotions were coming from either.

"We've got this," Derek said
casually. "Why don't you two head back to the hotel and pack up. We'll
escort Miles back to his office and meet you there."

Kyle nodded. He seriously owed his brother
one. If he'd had to sit in a car with Miles making goo-goo eyes at Kyle's man
there was liable to be one more human in the world who knew grizzly bear
shifters were real.

Alex nodded, went to speak a few words to
Miles, and then turned and headed back toward the hotel to pack up and check
out.

They didn't say a word on the long walk down
the driveway, but the moment Alex used the key to enter his room, Kyle was
right behind him.

Chapter Nine

Alex wasn't used to being manhandled, but he
couldn't quite deny the way it made him feel. Far from being angry, or perhaps
even frightened, he was aroused beyond belief.

In the blink of an eye Kyle had pushed him
into the room, slammed the door shut, and then pressed Alex against it. He'd
considered arguing, or at least asking "what the fuck?" but Kyle had
smooshed
their lips together and kissed him like the world
was coming to an end.

He held on for the ride, unwilling to fight
but not really willing to submit either. He threaded his fingers through Kyle's
hair, gripping with just enough strength to move the man to where he wanted
him, thrusting his tongue against Kyle's as the kiss went on and on. Kyle made
a strangled sound low in his throat before he dropped his hands to Alex's
clothes and very literally shredded his only-purchased-a-few-hours-ago jeans
from his body.

Alex couldn't help but shiver at the feeling
of raw power emanating from this man, but when Kyle dropped to his knees and
engulfed Alex's cock in one greedy swallow, he was shaking for a whole
different reason.

"
Ky
?"
Alex asked breathlessly, his brain short-circuiting from the incredible
sensations. Kyle hummed, apparently in response to his question, but didn't
stop sucking until Alex's whole world revolved around this one man.

He actually whimpered as his orgasm crept
closer, but when Alex pulled his mouth away and wrapped his hand around Alex's
engorged cock he thought he'd have a heart attack. When he realized the man's
intentions he felt like he'd died and gone to heaven.

Stream after stream of white ropey cum burst
from his cock, coating Kyle's face and neck as he closed his eyes and smiled.
Alex's knees gave out when Kyle's tongue flicked out, gathering wayward drops
of cum from his own lips.

"Fuck," Alex whispered, completely
wrung out and overwhelmed by Kyle's gesture. He'd felt like he'd been marked
when Kyle had ejaculated onto his stomach yesterday, but it was nothing
compared to the incredible satisfaction of painting the man with his…scent. He
had a feeling this was even a bigger deal in shifter circles than it was in
human ones.

Eye to eye now that he was also on his
knees, Alex leaned over and scooped away a drop that was threatening to run
into Kyle's eye. Before he could wipe his hand on his ruined jeans, Kyle
grabbed it and slid his fingers into his mouth.

Unable to look away, Alex watched as Kyle
licked and sucked each one clean.

"Why?" he finally asked when he
managed to catch his breath.

Kyle actually seemed a little embarrassed as
he lifted his T-shirt and quickly cleaned away the visual evidence of Alex's
orgasm. Alex had no doubt that Kyle would still be able to smell it.

"
Ky
?"

The man didn't seem inclined to explain, but
when he went to stand up and move away, Alex saw red. He grabbed Kyle by the
back of the neck and used all of his strength to hold the man in place. He had
no doubt that Kyle was much stronger and capable of moving away if he really
wanted to, so Alex was doubly pleased when Kyle stopped trying to stand up and
leaned closer to kiss him instead.

The kiss was long and sensual and very, very
sweet, but it also felt like good-bye.

Alex reached for Kyle's jeans, unwilling to
let the man leave—with or without a hard-on. He fumbled with Kyle's belt for
barely a moment before Kyle dropped one hand to cover Alex's and stop him. He
squeezed the man through his jeans, annoyed at being thwarted. Kyle groaned,
thrust his hips into Alex's hand, and then tried to move away. Alex stubbornly
followed.

"I can't," Kyle said in a
strangled tone of voice. "I'm…" He dragged in a deep, quivering
breath. "I'm too… I don't have control."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning I will bend you over and fuck
you and probably claim you all in one move."

"Claim me?" And yeah, he probably
should have been more concerned by the "bending him over and fucking
him" part since that wasn't something he'd done, ever, but
"claim" seemed like a very serious word when it came from Kyle's
mouth.

"I think you're my mate," Kyle
said quietly. The words were barely a whisper and spoken in a voice full of
despair. "I don't understand why the fates would give me a mate so unlike
my usual preference, but it's the only explanation I have for the overwhelming
attraction I feel."

That was kind of insulting, so Alex chose to
go the anger route rather than really consider what being a "mate" to
a bear shifter might mean.

"So I'm not good enough for you? Not
pretty enough?" He nearly laughed at the idea of being pretty, but it felt
good to let the words out, even if they weren't really making a heap of sense.
"You're rejecting me because I'm not some brainless
twink
with a pretty smile and…and a loose ass?"

Kyle laughed outright at that last question,
and Alex couldn't help but laugh with him. He moved his legs so that he was
sitting on the material of his ruined jeans and leaning against the door. Kyle
duplicated his move and ended up sitting beside him. Shoulder to shoulder they
both stared sightlessly into the room.

"This has been the strangest couple of
days."

"For you and me, both," Kyle said
with a soft laugh. They sat in companionable silence for a few minutes before
Kyle cleared his throat and started talking. "You should be safe now that
Terry and most of his family are in custody, so if you want to go back to your
old life, you can."

"But?"
Alex asked, hoping that there actually was a "but" in
there somewhere. He wasn't really sure what he wanted, yet a part of him didn't
want to watch this man walk out of his life. There was something between them,
and despite his own reservations, it was something he wanted to explore.

"But," Kyle said with a shake of
his head as if he really couldn't believe he was making the offer, "if you
wanted to join APS, I could probably find a position for you that didn't
involve riding a desk full-time."

"You don't like the idea of me being in
danger, do you? Even knowing that I've got ten years of police experience
behind me, you'd rather have me wrapped in cotton wool and waiting in your
bed."

 
Kyle
scratched his forehead and then ran a hand down his face. He didn't answer the
question directly.

"For the past couple of centuries my
siblings and I had pretty much given up the idea of finding someone special to
love. We shouldn't really exist—we weren't born as paranormals—so we kind of
figured it was part of the master plan for us to always be alone. But then
Adrian met Tyler and they're perfect for each other, so I guess that hope has
been growing for the past six months or so." He picked up Alex's hand and
threaded their fingers together. "I'm sorry if what I said sounded
insulting. I just never considered that my mate might be more like me than like
Tyler."

Alex's fingers tightened reflexively as a
bolt of jealousy flashed through him.

"You're in love with your brother's
mate?" And, holy fuck, how was that any of his business? It was clear that
he and Kyle really weren't suited to each other. They were both tops. That was
unlikely to change for either of them. And Alex wasn't going to play the
"good little wife" scenario and give up his police career for a man
who didn't want him going into danger. Truly, they were as about as fucked up
as a potential "mating" could be. Yet, he still wasn't willing to
watch Kyle walk out of his life…

But when the man remained silent, Alex's
temper boiled over.

"So I'm the distraction?
The man so different to Tyler that it doesn't feel like
cheating?"

"What the hell?" Kyle asked as
Alex tried to roll to his feet and move away. Kyle stood up rather than release
Alex's hand, but that didn't stop Alex from trying to pull away. Holy fuck,
what the hell was wrong with him?

He made a strangled sound of distress before
he found himself trapped in Kyle's embrace.

"Breathe, babe," Kyle said
quietly, calmly. He stroked a hand over Alex's close-cropped hair, and Alex
both loved it and despised the comfort it gave him. "I'm sorry, Alex. I
think you're sensing the mate bond between us. It's messing with your thought
processes."

"No kidding," Alex said sarcastically
even as he relaxed into the safe haven of Kyle's embrace.

"I know in my head that I should let
you go home to your normal life so that you can think things through
clearly," Kyle said, "but a part of me—a very big part of me—doesn't
want to let you go, ever."

Alex couldn't help laughing at that
statement as he rubbed his pelvis against a very big, very hard part of Kyle
that seemed happy for him to stay.

"That's not quite what I meant,"
Kyle said with a soft groan.

"But it's clearly uncomfortable."
Alex grinned at the hopeful look on his…
mate's
face.

"I wouldn't say 'no' to a little
help."

"So we're really going to try
this?" Alex asked. He was probably insane for believing every word the man
said, but he wanted to explore a relationship with Kyle more that he wanted to
go back to his old life. It probably helped that he really didn't have anything
or anyone to go home to.

Alex hadn't really noticed that they were
inching backward until the back of his knees hit the bed and he fell onto the
mattress. Kyle grinned unrepentantly as he followed him down and pinned him to
the bed.

Alex's cock was already filling when he felt
Kyle slide a hand between them and undo the front of his own jeans. By the time
he worked the denim down past his thighs, Alex already had a firm grip on his
hips. He controlled their movements, rubbing his hard cock against Kyle's as
the man above him groaned and grinned.

It was very possibly the beginning of a bad
habit, but there was just something wicked about being able to give such a
strong man so much pleasure from a touch so simple.

"We're going to drive each other
insane," Kyle said, groaning again as Alex lifted up at the same time he
pulled Kyle down.

"Probably," he agreed even as he
moved faster, increased the pace, the strength, the length of their touching,
"but it's going to be one hell of a ride."

Kyle cried out, nodding his agreement,
quivering in Alex's grip even though he more than had the ability to take over.
Alex lifted up to capture Kyle's lips, moaning in pleasure when the man
immediately thrust his tongue deep into his mouth, tongue fucking him to the
same rhythm.

It was pure carnal insanity, but when orgasm
ripped through him, Alex couldn't imagine anywhere else he would rather be.

~*~

Kyle kissed his mate
harder,
thrust his tongue deeper, barely managed to control his need to take over.
Feeling the man underneath him come apart was incredibly satisfying, but he had
only a moment to savor it before his own climax erupted. He dragged his lips
away, gasping for air as his cock throbbed over and over, coating Alex's
muscled abdomen and chest with his spunk.

They were both breathing harshly by the time
they were finished.

Unable to resist, Kyle lowered himself
carefully to squish their combined cum between them. It felt truly incredible
to simply rub his own tight abdominal muscles over the equally tight muscles of
his lover.

"This is some weird bear thing,
right?"

Kyle laughed at the teasing note in his
mate's voice, but he didn't stop his gentle movement.

"I don't know," he said honestly.
"Grizzly bears tend to be rather solitary. It might be a shifter thing,
though. I know I like you wearing my scent."

"So your brothers…" He didn't need
to finish the question. Kyle grinned and waggled his eyebrows.

"And any other paranormal
who
comes near you."

"They'll
all
smell your scent on me? That's kind of gross," Alex said
with a laugh. He tucked his chin close to his chest to try and see between
them. "And I suspect it's going to be a lot sticky."

 
"You don't like sticky?" Kyle asked,
feigning innocence. Alex made a silly face that had Kyle laughing harder.
"Fine.
Okay." He rolled off the bed and held his
hand out for Alex to take. "Come on, babe.
Time for a
shower."

Even after everything they'd shared, it was
that very moment when Alex willingly put his hand in Kyle's that would stay
with him forever.