Chapter 24: Erick

 

 

 

After the proposal, there was cake. Once Lucy closed the restaurant, there were also music, dancing, and drinks. Lots of drinks. The Black Paws—not just betas, but most of its adult packmembers, men and women alike—teetered drunkenly across the dance floor, guzzling cocktails and beers, to celebrate the force of Kaden and Caleb's love.

Even though the atmosphere was jovial, there was still a serious matter to discuss. While most of the pack enjoyed the engagement party, Kaden and Caleb gathered up their betas, Rowan, Aiden, and me in a dark corner booth.

"We need to talk about what Garland told us," Kaden said in a low voice that made everybody lean towards the center of the table. There were eight of us squeezed into a booth meant for five, so Logan's left elbow was wedged against my right side, while Aiden's legs were pressed to mine from hip to ankle on my left.

"What did the motherfucker tell you guys?" Logan asked.

Across the table, Caleb flipped the curly black fringe of his hair out of his eyes. "It's all true. Eliza has a way to separate the two halves of a shifter, and she's collecting the animal spirits for herself."

Logan's elbow stiffened, and I could sense him preparing to ask the next question. But why?

"The reason she's doing it," Kaden interjected, "is to blackmail Garland Grayback."

"Every shifter pack works the same way," Caleb explained, gesturing with his hands. "The alpha calls the shots. The alpha's wolf is in control of all subordinate wolves. That's the natural order."

Sam shifted his weight from one arm to the other, struggling in the little space he had between Kaden and Mickey. "Uh-huh. Yeah, we all know that."

"A harvested wolf, on the other hand, is just pure animal energy," Caleb continued. "Without the human side to temper it, it's basically a fully-charged wolf. It recognizes no alpha. It's its own alpha. And it's even our alpha."

"Yes, us," Kaden said, indicating himself and his brother.

"Betas gravitate to the strongest alpha in the room. Imagine all the trouble Eliza's little hellspawns would cause once they're unleashed," Caleb said with a bitter smile.

Everybody around the table fell still, myself included. We all knew that any threat to a pack's alpha endangered the whole pack.

"You guys remember how Garland screwed Eliza on a business deal all those years ago?" Kaden said.

Jimmy nodded quietly at the end of the booth.

"She never got the retribution she felt she deserved. Lately, she's been pressuring Garland to make it up to her by selling her a controlling share of the company—mine, to be more specific."

Glowering, Caleb shook his head disgustedly.

"Garland fears that if he doesn't give into her demands soon, she's going to use her collection to gain control of his pack," Kaden finally concluded.

Suddenly, Aiden twitched nervously. "There's a lot she can do with a whole pack of shifters," he said darkly.

"And she has sixteen of those little animals stuck in boxes," Rowan pointed out.

Logan scoffed. "So Garland might lose his pack or his company? Who cares? It's just karma coming back to bite him in the ass."

"My shares are at stake," Kaden said, touching his chest, "and if the coven has a weapon against the Grayback pack, it's a weapon against us all."

"So what do we do?" Jimmy said.

"How do we protect our families?" Sam said.

"We look out for our own," Kaden said with a determined set in his brow.

"And we prepare for what's coming," Caleb added.

 

* * *

 

When we returned to Aiden's apartment, it was so late that it was actually very early in the morning. Half asleep, we stumbled from the front door to the bed without bothering to turn on a single light.

My hands were slipping under his shirt before his head even hit the pillow.

Aiden chuckled and peeled off his shirt, leaving nothing but his fragrant, bare skin. "Aren't you tired?" he murmured, his lips slow and lazy with exhaustion.

"I'm not tired right now," I responded, and I moved to kiss his grinning mouth.

He sighed as my hands moved over him in the dark. His back arched, guiding my fingers over his curved torso to the waistband of his jeans. He was tight and strained in the front with the onset of his erection.

"I'm not tired, either," Aiden finally muttered, and he suddenly leapt up to straddle my hips.

Feeling his weight and his heat made me feral, and I gripped his shaking hips while gritting my teeth.

My cock was ready to explode out of my clothes, but Aiden was sitting on top of it, pinning it down. I sucked in a trembling breath. "Aiden…"

"Shh," he whispered. "Let me do this for you."

He lifted himself off of my pelvis and climbed down to kneel between my legs. His frantic fingers worked my jeans open. The muscles in my thighs stiffened as he pulled my cock out. There was a second of torturous bliss when I felt his soft breath on my swollen cockhead.

Abruptly, his warm, wet mouth slipped around my sensitive member.

"Shit!" I hissed.

Aiden's lips tightened around my girth, and he plunged his head down until I felt the tight grip of his throat clenching down on my cockhead. Trembling, I grabbed the sheets as he began pumping my cock in and out of his mouth. He was moaning, as if each drop of my precum tasted of ambrosia as it dissolved on his tongue.

My eyes clenched shut, I reached down and touched the back of his head. My heart was thumping so hard that I was too breathless to speak, but I still managed to say one thing.

"I have to have you, Aiden."

I was afraid I would explode before I got the chance.

Aiden's mouth finally slid slowly and wetly off of me, and he crawled to the other side of the bed. I tore off my clothes while he fumbled with his belt. Naked and impatient, I grabbed him while he was still unbuttoning his jeans.

"Erick!" he gasped as I flipped him onto his stomach.

The button of his jeans snapped off as I yanked it down to his knees. Hot-blooded with lust, I pulled his ass cheeks apart and tasted his gloriously tight hole, where his sweet scent was strongest.

His ass cheeks shook in my hands. He dug his knees into the bed, pushing his hips back into my mouth.

"Oh, fuck, Erick. Please fuck me," he said in a voice tight with need.

I pulled away. "You're ready for me."

It wasn't a question.

I worked quickly to pull off his jeans all the way and moved into position behind him. One hand on each ass cheek, I pressed my tip to his opening and leaned forward, sinking myself into his tightness with a grunt. Aiden arched his back and screamed. His legs kicked slightly, and his tight walls pulsed briefly from the movement.

My eyes rolled back. Oh, god. Aiden's asshole was silky-soft, warm as soothing bathwater, and tight. So decadently, deliciously tight. Shuddering with ecstasy, I began my assault, fucking him as he twisted and writhed in my hands.

"Erick," he kept moaning in his sexy, broken voice.

I growled, and I fucked him even harder.

My abs burned, and sweat formed on my back as I thrusted into him, holding his bouncing ass. Even though this was the second time, it felt like the first. Because now, I wasn't resisting fate, but embracing it.

Aiden was my mate. His body was meant for this. For me.

Leaning forward, I kissed the back of his shoulder and the side of his neck. "I can't believe I was about to leave this," I said with a deep, emphatic thrust.

Aiden threw his head back and shivered. "If you try to leave again, I'll kill you."

My laugh was cut off when he turned his head for a kiss.

We fucked in that position for a moment longer. Then, I moved to lie on my back, and Aiden straddled me once more. This time, my cock was inside him, and he hitched his hips to stroke his clenching hole up and down along my length.

His own cock was within reach. I curled my right fist around him, and his asshole tensed around me in response. I jerked him off as he rode my dick, eager to drive him to the edge.

"Oh," he gasped.

I knew he was getting close.

Digging my heels into the bed, I propelled my hips up into his cavity with the same force I used to chop wood. Aiden moaned and stretched his chin toward the ceiling, tightening every muscle in his neck and shoulders. His skin was dewy with sweat. His scent permeated the room, and it smelled heavenly.

"Don't stop," Aiden murmured, and his cock slipped in and out of my hand as he rode me. Seconds later, he came, and his pulsing asshole worked me long enough to bring me to my own climax.

Gasping, I held him down against me. His cock emptied itself across my chest, and mine emptied itself into his tight, forbidden heat.

"Is it okay if—" I began when Aiden didn't immediately climb off of me.

Just before I could finish my sentence, the dragon's knot exploded from the base of my cock. Aiden groaned as my cock pulled itself deep into his asshole, where it stayed, sealing my hot seed inside.

With a silent shudder, his cock dribbled out a few more drops of cum.

"Oh my god," he murmured. He shifted his weight slightly, allowing the knot to press against a different part of his orifice. By the way his breath stopped, I knew he was careening towards a higher state of ecstasy.

"It'll be just a few more minutes," I assured him.

Aiden leaned forward, until his torso touched the mess he'd left on my chest. "I don't care how long it takes. I could stay like this forever."

Smiling, I skimmed my fingers up his arms, making him shiver. His heart was racing. I could tell because it wasn't just pounding in his chest. It was pounding throughout his entire body.

"I've experienced forever," I said. "Forever isn’t long at all."

"Longer than forever, then," Aiden whispered excitedly.

We kissed while I was still knotted up inside him. When we laced our hands together, I could still feel his heart beating in his palms.

 

* * *

 

Later that night, hours after a shower and a quick dinner of sliced tomatoes and cheese, I was roused awake by a presence outside the bedroom window.

Aiden was fast asleep, but my instincts prickled. Slowly, I got up and peeked through the blinds.

Caleb was standing on the grass below, hands stuffed into the pockets of his sweater. His tall body formed a long, thin shadow on the lawn. He was clearly waiting for me.

I made sure Aiden was still sound asleep before putting some clothes on. I left through the front door and shut it so carefully I barely heard the click of the latch. Then, I hurried down from the second floor. Caleb walked toward me when he saw me emerge from the stairwell.

"Sorry to bother you so late," he said, reaching for a handshake.

"I'm not bothered," I said in a low voice, just in case. "Why are you here?"

Caleb placed his hands back in his pockets. He looked troubled. The light from the half-moon threw shadows across his face.

"I know what you are," he said.

I blinked. Yards away, a cricket trilled a quick, uptempo song.

"You're a dragon," he continued.

I wasn't alarmed. Just surprised.

"How did you find out?" I asked calmly.

"I saw you," Caleb said, eyes shining, "that night we went out looking for the Grayback betas in the woods. I watched a dragon land in a tree. A tree that you jumped out of seconds after the fact."

I exhaled a dry breath. "So you've figured me out. Did anybody else see?"

Caleb shook his head.

"In that case, I assume you have a favor to ask of this dragon shifter."

For the first time since I'd met him, Caleb looked unsure of himself. His shoulders drooped slightly, and he glanced at the ground between our feet.

"Kaden wants to wait for something to happen before we act. I think we should act now," he said.

I raised an eyebrow. "And what do you propose?"

"Destroy Eliza's weapons before she can even use them," Caleb said, his storm-gray eyes blazing with a sudden fire. "With dragon's fire."

Now, both eyebrows rose. Caleb had certainly done his research. At the very least, he was familiar with shifter lore. Even the most powerful spells were no match for the magic of a dragon's fiery breath.

"You understand that what you're proposing would destroy absolutely everything the coven has built," I said.

Caleb smirked. "That's what I'm hoping for."

In my head, I heard the distant cadence of drums. The drums of war. It had been so long since I reveled in the excitement of battle. Battle was my purpose. I was born into a clan of dragons meant to fight alongside kings, and I hadn’t realized how much I missed the art of war until this very moment.

"What would you have me do?" I asked.

"Tomorrow night, go to Scheherazade's Spa," Caleb said, "and burn it to the ground."