---

CHAPTER FIFTEEN 
     
ROWAN
The door opens, telling me someone is here to attack my mate.
I leap off the bed and rush after them with Talon at my heels and don’t stop until I have them pinned to the ground.
“No, Floofboy, don’t eat me! Logan’s the only one allowed to eat me!” Ari cries from where I have him held down. Talon is sniffing Ari’s face with a wiggle to his body when he should be eating the intruders.
That’s when Logan’s massive arms wrap around me and pick me straight off the ground like some mere house cat as I hiss and flail at the man who dares try to stop my protection of Quinn.
“I told you to knock first,” Logan says as he holds me like I’m a kitten. My tail is twitching as Logan carries me toward the bed that Ari has belly crawled up to.
“Quinn… Quinn, Rowan tried murdering me!” he cries as he dramatically reaches a hand out to Quinn who doesn’t seem too concerned about saving him.
“Rowan, don’t murder Ari,” Quinn says as he slowly sits up, causing Cleo to slide off his chest. He’d been soundly sleeping before Ari’s vicious attack.
Ari continues to crawl across the floor and up onto the bed before hugging Quinn, which irritates me. Then he shifts into an ocelot and dodges under the covers.
“Oh… someone’s naked under here,” Ari says, and I leap out of Logan’s arms and dive onto the bed, trying to pounce on the thing skirting around under the covers. Deciding that there’s a quicker method than making him into a pancake, I dip under the covers and grab the back of Ari’s neck in my mouth as I drag him out.
He squirms in my grip as I consider what to do with the menace dangling from my mouth.
“I just… don’t even care to question what’s going on,” Quinn says as he rubs the sleep from his eyes. “Sometimes… I just wonder if I’m still sleeping.”
“Murder. That’s what’s going on. I’m going to murder this little ocelot and make you some gloves,” I say as I head for the window only to find it firmly locked. “Quinn, please open the window.”
Quinn ignores me as I bang Ari against the window, willing it to open.
“Let me go,” Ari says before hissing at me.
“Quinn, I was wondering if you wanted something to eat? I was just going to make you something so you could take your pain pills,” Logan says.
“Oh, thank you,” Quinn says.
“And then we can talk. I managed to talk to a buddy, and I got him to run Natalie Davis’s name through the police database. When he’s got all the information compiled, I thought we could sit down and go over it,” Logan says as Ari’s tail twitches.
The window thing isn’t working too well so I have to improvise and head for the toilet.
“That would be perfect, Logan. Thank you so much. Do you think he’s found something?” Quinn asks hopefully.
“Maybe. He’ll explain it better,” Logan says.
I reach the bathroom and use my paw to flick the toilet lid up.
“No! Don’t you dare! I’ll shred your face!” Ari says as he wraps all paws around my head and sinks his nails in. It’s like I’m wearing some kind of satanic face armor made of fur and claws.
“Rowan! Don’t put Ari in the toilet,” Quinn calls from the bedroom, “unless I’m around to see. You know I love that kind of stuff.”
“He’s currently shredding my face,” I say as I let go of him and find that he still sticks, even as I carry him back into the bedroom. He still doesn’t let go as I jump onto the bed and sit down to listen. “If we find this Natalie woman… I mean, that could answer a lot of our questions. We could have the upper hand with more information.”
Ari is now chewing on my ear like it’s a toy for him to devour, and no amount of shaking my head is dislodging the parasite.
“Yes! Good work, Logan. Thank you. I know it’s not always easy for you to reach out to people from your past,” Quinn says, instantly making me question what he means. I didn’t know Logan had “a past”; I thought he was just an overly carefree nice guy.
Logan slowly nods. “It’s alright now that I know I have a family here with you guys.”
“Of course you do,” Quinn says.
“Tell him to take his parasite.”
Quinn grabs for Ari who still won’t leave my face and tries unhooking his claws. Quinn eventually manages to do so before holding Ari out to the giant man. Ari leaps onto Logan’s shoulders and sits down like he’s a parrot and hisses at me. At me.
I hiss back while Logan just merrily collects Ari’s clothes and heads out of the room. When I step up to Quinn, I realize he smells like Ari.
“He dare touch you,” I say as I rub on him to get the stench off.
“You’re awfully possessive this morning,” Quinn says as he hugs me to him. “Sassy snow leopard is my favorite snow leopard. That or snuggly snow leopard.”
“I… I can’t shift back,” I announce.
“Again?” he asks.
“I tried to… so many times. What if I’m stuck like this forever?”
“That’d be sad,” Quinn says, but he looks more teasing than anything. “You’d have to do everything as a snow leopard. You’d have to learn how to drive with your paws, and how would you read a book? And… man, you’d just be like a permanent purrmaster.”
I stare at the man who seems to find joy in my sadness. That is, clearly, because the man I’m undyingly in love with is a monster.
I hiss at him, then am horrified I hissed at him and try to fix it with a few licks. Then I’m horrified I’m licking him and just give up and flop on my side.
“Oh no, drama leopard is back. I also missed drama leopard.”
“Shh. I am now a fur blanket, not a leopard.”
“Oh fun,” he says as he grabs my body and drags it on top of himself. “Ooh, you’re like one of those weighted blankets.”
“Weighted blanket of depression.”
“Oh, you’ll shift back soon. I’m sure it was just because you were upset earlier,” he says as he runs his finger over my face before kissing my forehead. “You worrying about me makes me very happy.”
I let my head sink down to his chest and listen to the beating of his heart until there’s a knock on the door telling me Logan’s back. Only then do I get up, ready to kick whoever’s ass needs to be kicked, but Logan brought me a plate too, so I decide he’s safe… for now.
      
QUINN
“Floofboy is extra floofy today,” Ari says as we settle into our seats in Apollo’s grand dining room. Graham is sitting next to Ari and Logan while Emery tries to find a seat near me. Gina is standing near the door, talking to Katalina and Harper while Trenton stares at Kaiya. I can’t stop finding it extremely strange that Graham doesn’t seem to notice Trenton’s attention toward Kaiya.
Rowan takes a seat next to me where he can glare at Ari, drawing my attention away from Graham. Rowan, in his leopard form, seems irritated that Talon has turned into a traitor and is currently leaning into Ari who is petting him and gloating. It’s clear he wants to start something.
I set a hand on Rowan’s head, snapping his attention back to me and off Ari. “Rowan’s having some trouble shifting back, but I’m sure he’ll be back to normal shortly. I can still hear him talk though, so I’ll just relay whatever he says if needed,” I explain. “First off, I want to thank you guys for stepping up while I was resting. From everything I’ve heard from Graham, it seems like things are going well. We will need to figure out some legalities about the place, but Harper, you said you were in charge of that stuff, correct?”
Harper nods as she leans forward. She’s the only one who arrived with a notebook and pen in hand, like she’s ready to take notes. “Bills and stuff, yes. So the food and the products we make, we sell to local buyers that I have a list of, if you’d like any information on them,” Harper says. “It’s all an already set transaction that I can continue to handle… unless you’d like to.”
“No, I’d rather you keep doing things, if you want, since you already have a good understanding of how the place runs. And then I’ll have someone from my side help you out with things, alright? Until then, I was wondering if you knew who owns this place?” I ask. “The land, I mean.”
“I… believe the pride—pack does,” Harper says as she glances over at Katalina, as though she’d like her thoughts on it. Katalina just shrugs. “It’s been with the pride for so long that it was legally theirs and as Apollo explained it, the state can’t take it from us.”
That’s a relief if Apollo was telling her the truth. It’ll save us so much headache if everything is still stable. “Okay. That’s fantastic,” I say. “We won’t have to deal with someone trying to take it from us with Apollo no longer alpha. Where is Apollo?”
“Threw a fit and cursed about how we’d pay for this. I’m more than positive it’s not the last we’ve seen of him,” Graham says.
“He tried fighting Graham and I bit him,” Emery says, rather proud of himself.
It’s a good thing Emery doesn’t want to be alpha because I’d probably not win in a fight against him. He seems to like me, though, for some weird reason. Who knows with Emery. Reading him is nearly impossible to do, but he just smiles at me.
It’s all rather suspicious, but he’s kind of like this cute, innocent child at the moment who wants approval, so I give him a smile and a nod that really seems to please him. Strangely, when I glance over at Graham, I see him staring at me, which just makes me more confused.
Logan tinkers on the laptop for a moment before looking up at me. “He’s ready if we are?”
“Yes, go ahead,” I say.
He slides the laptop to the middle of the table, and we all crowd around one side of it to watch the guy on the laptop. Rowan is so nosy his furry head pops up in my face, blocking my view as his ear goes in my mouth. That means the first thing our new help gets to see is me trying to get leopard fluff out of my mouth.
“Afternoon, my name is Deke Warren,” he says. “So I looked into the name Logan sent me and I was actually able to find a little something on her. Natalie Davis is the real name of a doctor who is no longer practicing, at least according to this. She hasn’t kept up on her license but that doesn’t mean she’s not involved in something. I don’t see any correlation between her and this SCI Pharmaceuticals, but what’s interesting is that there’s no real details at all on SCI Pharmaceuticals. Just surface information. I’m not sure how or who is keeping the details locked down but maybe I could have an interview with the scientist you have that worked there and see if we can get more answers?”
I look over at Gina, who nods. “Yes, of course.”
It’d be nice if she could give him something. So far, she’s had very little to give us because Mercer basically had her confined to the lab and dealt with all the outside things himself.
“Great, so I’m going to see if I can get in to speak with Natalie Davis and see what she can give us. If she’s willing to talk, we might get somewhere. If not, we’ll try to find some concrete proof and get a warrant to search this facility you guys are talking about. The issue is… you know it’s harder for us to go against a facility like that using the words of… shifters, and I’m truly sorry about that, but it’s the way it is. The only reason my boss is allowing me to dive deeper is the connection we have to Logan. But if I can get some stuff out of the scientist who’s a human, we might have something to go on.”
“Anything you can do will help us,” I say, hating that there’s little I can do but I have to remember that I’m not useless. I’m helping a whole pack of people and doing what I can. And sometimes doing what I can means that I have to rely on people with actual experience in this. “For right now, there’s little we can do, so we’re going to stay locked down tight here and hope the walls and security keeps us safe.” I think about what other questions I had to ask him. “Can you also tell me how I can look into the legalities of this place? I know Harper thinks the pack owns it, but I want to know for sure. I need to figure out if it stays in Apollo’s family name or if it shifts owners to the new alpha.”
“Yeah, I can look into that for you as well,” he says as he jots it down on a paper in front of him. “Okay. Well, you guys know how to reach me if you need me,” Deke says with a smile.
“Thank you, Deke,” Logan says before they end the call.
“Do you know what a relief it is to have someone actually listen to us?” Graham asks as he slides his chair back into place.
I smile as I nod. “Yes, so much. I wish we could do more… I want to do more, but I don’t know what I could possibly do to help that he can’t already manage.”
“I think we’re best sitting tight for a bit,” Harper says. “It’s not like you won’t have plenty to worry about. The pack dynamic is already shifting, and you need to keep it from spiraling out of control. Shocking their systems with too much freedom might be counterproductive.”
“I understand,” I say.
“And…” She watches us for a moment before glancing at Katalina who gives her a mini shrug. “What are you doing with the guy handcuffed in the bathroom that I stumbled upon?”
The group of us are quiet as I think about what a good answer to this would be before realizing I should just tell the truth.
“He’s Rowan’s brother. We’re hoping to help him, but right now, he doesn’t see it like that,” I say. “He’s pretty sure we’re from hell and are around to make his life miserable.”
“We have a secure room in the basement you could keep him in instead?” Harper suggests. “You know… if you don’t want to keep him in a bathroom. Apollo’s father made it to hold… people in… you know what… I never really knew what it was for. Offenders? His own little jail cell?”
“Kinky play,” Ari helpfully supplies.
Harper smiles which pleases Ari. “Ah, yes, definitely that.”
“I can help you move him, if you’d like,” Katalina says.
“That’d be great,” I say.
I still don’t know if having Brennan here is a good idea, but I think it gives Rowan hope and helps him feel better knowing that his brother isn’t out there doing horrible things.
OceanofPDF.com

CHAPTER SIXTEEN 
     
QUINN
It’s been two weeks since I usurped Apollo and things have gone extremely well… surprisingly well. The pack is so used to Apollo’s strict rules that breaking them out of their shells has been slow going. Thankfully, they didn’t surge in the other direction and turn everything into chaos. They’ve been very receptive to my rules and my control so far and I’ve appreciated it. I already had enough to deal with without having to fight for control on a daily basis.
Surprisingly, Apollo hasn’t been back yet to harass us. I thought for sure once he healed, he’d be right at the gate wanting a rematch. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was glad he hadn’t returned. There’s no saying the next fight would go as well and I’ve had plenty to deal with without Apollo interfering. We’ve tried figuring out where Donny went, but no one can find anything. I stuck Scott on that job, since I feel like he has little value to us anywhere else after he tried ruining everything. Intelligently, Scott’s been very compliant since we brought him back.
I believe he’s mostly been trying to help Gina, who is still busy in her makeshift “lab.” Every time I see her, she’s heading to her lab or talking about her lab or needing something for her work. She’s trying to make something to reverse the effects of Mercer’s drug that causes shifters to be unable to shift, but so far, with her limited resources, I’m not sure what she’s figured out. She said she’s also working on some other stuff to help us in the long run, but at the moment, I’m not sure what that is. I’m… not sure she is either.
Deke, Logan’s friend who is helping us, had been fantastic at touching base the first week, but it’s now been a week since we’ve heard anything from him. Logan assured me that he planned on reaching out again today and relaying what Deke says when he gets ahold of him.
But right now, we’re standing in the basement outside the room Brennan’s being held in. I feel like we’ve made very little progress with him and I’ve started to wonder if we ever will.
“Do you really think this will work? I’m a bit suspicious that this will work,” Rowan asks as he eyes Emery who is currently trying his hardest to follow us while reading a book.
“You know what? I have no idea. What I do know is even though Emery does some weird shit, he’s amazed me more than once,” I say as I pet Talon who is leaning against my leg.
“You know I’m not deaf, right?” Emery asks as he slowly lowers his book to look at me. “My hearing is the supreme of the supreme. The crème… brûlée.”
“The what?” I ask, horribly confused.
“He means crème de la crème,” Graham says as he walks into the room.
“I was a poor child, we weren’t given correct words,” Emery says while glaring at Graham, like it’s Graham’s fault he picked the wrong word.
Graham just stares at Emery like he’s trying to figure out what he is. I stare a little harder as I try to decipher something. Something that has my brain going, “No, no, you crazy man, you’re very wrong.”
But… am I?
I cock my head as I just stare at them.
Emery seems to notice my staring and examines me like I’m the strange one.
“Okay, let’s get this over with,” Rowan says, snapping me out of my scrutiny.
I nod and pat Emery on the back. “Okay. Emery, please be good.”
He snaps his book shut and shoves it into my hands. “Good is my middle name.”
“So is Crème brûlée,” Graham says, which makes Emery glare at him again before slipping through the door into the room Brennan’s being kept in. “Why does he not like me?” Graham seems very concerned about this.
“Why does it bother you?” I ask curiously. We decide that leaving Brennan and Emery alone would be best, so we remain in the hallway where we open a laptop and flip to the camera Rowan had set up in the room so he could check on Brennan without needing someone down here at all times.
Graham glances over at me as we all scoot closer to the screen that shows us what’s happening in Brennan’s room. “It doesn’t. But everyone likes me.”
Rowan seems highly suspicious of this and I kind of have to agree. My brother, while generally nice, isn’t the “loveable, everyone’s pal” kind of guy.
“I’m not really sure I liked you a whole lot at first, you know, because you were trying to make my life miserable by glaring and growling at me,” Rowan says.
“Because you were hitting on my brother, and you’re right, I didn’t like you,” Graham says. “I was positive he could do better.”
I raise an eyebrow while questioning what my brother could possibly not like about Rowan. Although, it seems like he’s warmed up to him now. “And you ask why someone might not like you,” I mumble.
Graham gives me a look like I’m taking sides or something. “I don’t dislike him now. Like at this very moment in time, I don’t. But if he even looks at you funny, I’ll make him pay. You hear that, Rowan?” he asks as he steps into Rowan, making Rowan tip his head back to look up at him.
“Wildly loud and clear since you’re damn near shouting it in my ear,” Rowan says as we watch the feed of Emery walking over to the cell Brennan’s in. It takes up most of the room, leaving just a small space outside the room where a lone chair sits.
“Brennan,” Emery says by way of greeting. It kind of sounds more threatening than nice but I can’t expect Emery to do anything normally.
Brennan stares at Emery before walking up to the bars of the cell and leaning against them, eyes narrowed at Emery’s presence. “So the weak traitor has come to talk. I wondered how long it’d be before I had to hear something useless out of your mouth.”
This isn’t going to go well. I can already see Emery going on the defensive. “All of you called me weak because I was the only one of you able to keep my sanity during the procedure. You’ve lost yourself, Brennan. If you’re anything like the person Rowan claims you were, then you’ve lost a huge part of yourself. I lost a part of myself too, but you know what? I didn’t just fucking sit down and take it from the man who ruined me. I didn’t roll over and let him pet my belly like a dog after he tortured me and made me into this thing. So you need to fucking grow up and realize just how goddamn weak you are,” Emery growls. He seems so confident, but I can’t help but wonder just what Emery has gone through. A part of me finds that I want to comfort him, and when I glance over at Graham, I can see just how tight his hands are clenched.
Brennan smirks at Emery as he presses himself up against the bars. “Why don’t you come in here and say it to my face?”
Even from here, I can see that Emery’s entire body is tense. “I don’t know why, but those fools out there still think there’s good in you. And while I’m not sure there is because I’ve seen the things you and the others have done, I’m willing to help because they’re the first family I’ve had in years. So I’m going to do whatever they need to make them happy.”
“You’re just weak and useless,” Brennan snarls. It’s like the moment he saw Emery, he was prepared to fight him and everything Emery says further aggravates him.
“I wish I was like you, Brennan, and had someone in my family to fight for me. To bring me back from the hell I was caught up in. You have someone, multiple people, but you’re still so self-centered that you can only care about yourself.”
“Come in here and fight me,” Brennan growls.
“Fine, keep your hands on the bars and I will,” Emery says before grabbing the key off the wall as I realize he really does plan on going in there.
“What the fuck is he doing?” Graham asks in alarm.
“Shit,” I say as I set down the laptop and rush down the hallway with Rowan right behind me. Talon thinks we’re going for a fun jog and dances after us excitedly.
Together we head over to the door leading to the room the cell is in, but by the time I enter, Emery is already inside the cell facing Brennan. Graham tries pushing past me, but I block him from engaging them.
“Emery, don’t!” I say, but they’re both too busy shredding their clothes and shifting to listen to a word I’m saying.
Brennan is larger than Emery who is standing stone still. There’s a slight rise to his lips as he shows his fangs, but he’s not growling like Brennan is.
“Brennan, stop this,” Rowan begs. “Come on, this isn’t you.”
I can’t hear a single thing they’re saying in those forms, but I also don’t know what I should do. Do I go in there to stop them? They won’t listen, or at least Brennan wouldn’t. If I go in, I’ll have to join the fight.
“He’s going to tear Emery apart,” Graham says anxiously.
The fight is brutal and fast as Brennan slams into Emery. But Emery holds nothing back as he strikes. His movements are quick and calculated and the fight is over before I can even decide what to do. Emery has Brennan down on the ground, fangs on his throat, and any time Brennan tries to struggle, Emery drags him across the floor until he stops.
Emery lets go and shifts before walking out as casually as he walked in. Graham, Rowan, and I are left stupefied as Brennan slowly gets to his feet.
“Sorry, Rowan, your brother’s an idiot,” Emery says before walking up to Graham and grabbing the bottom of the shirt that’s on Graham’s body.
“What are you doing?” Graham asks as Emery tugs at his shirt.
“I want your clothes, obviously. Mine are torn.” He says this like it’s so self-explanatory that Graham is being an idiot.
Graham waves his hand around, like that’ll help. “Take Rowan’s!”
“But I like Rowan and would care if he’s cold,” Emery says before tugging Graham’s shirt off and pulling it on himself where it falls just far enough to provide modesty. He seems to admire it as he walks out the door.
“He’s so weird,” Graham says as he looks down at his shirtless self. “So fucking weird.”
“Did you see that?” I hiss as I point. “He annihilated Brennan. He’s fucking brutal. If he wanted this whole pack, he could have it with a snap of his fingers.” Clearly, I need to stay on Emery’s good side.
Emery pokes his head into the room. “My god, I don’t want this pack. What part of not liking people do you not get? You imagine if I had to interact with them? Do one of those little speech things you do?” He shudders before locking eyes with me. “Where’s my book?”
I dumbly hold it out and he snatches it before disappearing.
“I need a drink,” Graham says.
I look over at Rowan who is clearly disappointed none of this seemed to work out.
“I need more than a drink,” he says quietly.
“Come on, I have an idea. Graham, we’re going to step outside the walls for like an hour tops, okay?”
“Don’t go too far.”
“We won’t,” I promise before tugging Rowan after me as Talon excitedly follows us. After rushing up to my room to grab the small pack I can wear as a wolf, we head for the door.
“Emery could be our key to winning this,” Rowan says as he follows me.
“He could. He knows more about them than any of us. He’s stronger than any of us. But… maybe he still cares for some of them since they went through the same thing together,” I say, knowing that’d hold him back. “Even though they’re awful, they were a part of his pack for a while.”
“I didn’t think about that.”
“I’ve caught him more than once just hanging outside where Brennan is, like he wants to go to him, but doesn’t want to talk to him. It’s clear why when they interacted today. But… I’m afraid Emery’s right, Rowan,” I say as I lead the way out of the building and onto the street. I glance over at Rowan because I don’t want to upset him. “Whatever Mercer did to them, it changed them. And somehow, Emery lucked out and it didn’t change him the way it did everyone else. I know this could be hard, but what if the Brennan you knew isn’t in there? Though even if he isn’t, that doesn’t mean this is the end. It just means you might have to go about this differently. You might need to teach him how to care and find kindness. Show him what it means to live somewhere you’re loved and cared for, instead of used and abused by a crazy man.”
Rowan sighs and slowly nods. “Yeah… I guess. I just… I feel like I failed him or something. I really thought we could turn him around. Make him remember our life.”
“What if you help him remember?” I ask as we reach the gate. “What if when you go in there to see him next time, you recount the good times with him? He obviously remembers enough of the bad times if he still hates his father, but sometimes hate comes through easier when you’re already angry and upset. So what if you went back as far as you can remember and tell him everything good you two did together?”
Rowan nods as I push through the gate and walk outside the walls. We’ve been leaving it locked to keep Mercer’s crew out, in case they decide to harass us again, but it’s been quiet for long enough I told them they could leave if they wanted, though no one has asked yet.
“I like that idea,” Rowan says with a smile. “I really do. I… I want to do that. I think I’ve just been frustrated that he won’t… try harder or that he doesn’t love me enough to push through all of this, but you and Emery are right. I keep thinking it’s a matter of him not wanting to get better, and not realizing that he’s not able to. We have no idea what Mercer did to him, but Emery does and it’s clear he struggled to get where he’s at.”
“Exactly,” I say. “But we’ll figure it out. And now, we’re going to forget everything stressful and you’re going to get naked.”
Rowan grins at me as his eyebrows shoot up. “Oh? Am I now? Quite the shift in the conversation.”
“You are, and it’s a good shift,” I assure him as I tug my shirt off and toss it before pushing my pants down.
“Hmm… this day just got so much better,” Rowan says as he removes his shirt before looking for where to put it and deciding the grass would be good enough.
I shift into my wolf form and dance at his feet as I impatiently wait. Talon immediately starts prancing as he realizes what this means. He loves it when we shift—now that he’s not concerned about Rowan acting strange—and knows it means we’re going to go for a run. The moment Rowan shifts, I take off at a run with Talon at my heels, eager to follow.
“Hold on, you know it takes me a moment!” Rowan says.
“Ah, the words of a sore loser,” I say as the wind whips through my fur as I race along the outer edge of the walled town.
Rowan’s quick to catch up, since he’s a little bit faster than me. For a moment, we’re neck and neck, doing all we can to match each other, but when we reach a ditch, he manages to clear it by a long shot, and I have to take a more calculated jump, letting him move ahead.
He races into the trees as I chase after him. His ability to control himself as a snow leopard has grown so much since the first time he shifted. His dexterity allows him to weave through trees with ease and his jumps are as impressive as ever. While he still doesn’t have complete control of it, when he reaches a nearly vertical incline up a rock face, I watch as he scales it, leaving me and Talon behind. Talon assesses the situation then decides that going around is the smart thing to do and takes off.
From the top, Rowan turns around to look down at me, his large paws hanging off the edge as he watches me with his green eyes. If a snow leopard could gloat, he’d be gloating.
“Why are you so far away?” he teases before rolling onto his side playfully.
“Because I’m not part spider. Like… do your feet have glue on them?”
He lifts a paw to look and as he rolls around I realize that he’s full-on gloating at this point. “No, hon, I think that’s just called superiority, amazingness, and even a dash of perfection.”
I snort as I rear up to look up the slant at him. He’s rolling around and gloating and… just being all-around smug, which I cannot have. So I start backing up, preparing for the leap.
That makes him flip back onto his stomach. “No! Just go around! What if you fall, you don’t have claws to hang on!” Rowan says in alarm.
“I know… I feel like if I go around, someone might get too cocky,” I say as I keep backing up.
“Oh dear god. No! What if you fall and—you’re already running…”
I rush forward, believing in myself that I can make this while also… kind of not. I mean, it’s not that far of a fall if I don’t. I’ll probably just skid back down into the piles of dried leaves because it’s suddenly starting to look a whole lot taller than I remember it being.
I rush it, climbing as quickly as I can as my nails dig into the rock surface before losing momentum almost at the top. “Oh no…” I say as I dig my nails in and start to skid back down. Before I can fall, Rowan shifts into his human form and grabs my paws with his hands a moment before I’d have given up to plummet into the dirt. I dig in with my hind legs until I manage to help him drag me up to the top. I realize he’s gotten so much better at quickly shifting as I’m helped up.
“I told you!” he says as he grabs me in his arms and hugs me to him as he lies on the dirt-covered rock. I shift into my human form as I grin down at him.
“Yeah, but you were getting too big of a head, and I felt like I needed to save you from yourself,” I tease. “I still made it, so… I guess I’m ultra-amazing as well.”
Rowan grins at me. “You are ultra-amazing, but you’d have fallen on your furry ass if I hadn’t dragged you up with my superior arm strength.” He’s doing this weird little flex as he flips his arms this way and that.
I can’t help but laugh at how ridiculous he’s being. He’s trying to look all cocky and strong as he gives me a wink. “Wow, so strong,” I say as I give his muscles a little poke. “Nearly broke my finger just touching them.”
“I know, right? It’s tough being me.”
“Tough being Floofy?” I ask.
He grabs me and rolls me into the leaves. “Why yes, it is,” he says before leaning down to me. I push my head up to meet his lips for a kiss but he grins just out of reach. “Aw, you thought I was rolling you over to give you a sweet kiss, but instead I was just putting you into the dirty leaves and withholding my kiss until you stop calling me Floofy. Talking about my amazing climbing skills might mend this bond.”
I’m biting my lip to keep from laughing at this ridiculous routine he has going on. “I’m sorry, Floofy—fuck… Um… dammit… I know it… I know your name… just give me a minute.”
“It’s Grand Climbing Master to you,” he declares rather loudly with pride.
I have to try my hardest not to laugh. “Right! Grand Floofy Master!”
He ruffles my hair. “Climbing and none of this… Floofy shit!”
“Oh, you want me to climb you?” I ask with a waggle of my eyebrows. “I can do that.”
“You’re so stubborn and sexy I just end up letting you be stubborn.”
I can’t stop smiling at this crazy man who I’m just so enamored by. Who I just can’t stop thinking about. How did I end up so lucky to end up with him? “You love everything I do and you know it.”
Rowan nods as he hovers above me, still withholding my kiss. “I do! I love it when you scoop your cat off your face and put it on mine in the middle of the night.”
“You know I can’t breathe through the cat and that’s how she likes to sleep!”
“You think I can?”
“You’re like kin. Tell me what else you love.” I know I’m just asking for more ridiculous stuff from him, but I can’t stop myself.
“I loved it when you ate the chocolate truffle I was saving.”
I hesitate as I vaguely remember that. “That… was a minor accident. I thought it was mine and then after I ate it, I remembered I’d already eaten mine. I bought you a whole pack to make up for it and I ate all of them but one so you could have your one truffle back. It was a sacrifice I had to make.”
He laughs before finally leaning in closer as I wrap my arms around him, refusing to let him taunt me any longer. “I thank you for your sacrifice. But I thought chocolate was bad for dogs.”
“Good thing I’m not a dog,” I say as I lean in closer and just as he goes to press his lips against mine, I lean back like he did to me. “Ah, yep, this was fun, ready to run back?”
His eyes get wide, like suddenly I’m the traitor. “Oh no, no, no. I’m allowed to taunt and tease you. It’s not allowed to go the other way around.”
“Your white is growing out,” I say as I run my fingers through his hair. Rowan leans into my hand as I draw him down closer.
“It needs to be dyed.”
“But I like it. It still blends with the blond well,” I say before pulling his head down to press his lips against mine. I push into him as one of my hands slides up his bare back and the other runs down to his ass that I give a nice squeeze to.
I have no more desire to taunt him now that I finally got what I wanted. I just wanted to make him work a little for it like he did to me. His touch, his caress, the feeling of his lips—all of it winds up together and makes desire grow inside me. This man is mine. He’s my mate. He’s always going to be just mine.
I press into him, tangling my tongue with his as his hand roams. And as he touches me, stroking and fondling me as I pull him closer, I think about how lucky I am to have this man with me. The events that threw us together were less than desirable, but without them, I’d never have met my mate. And the only way I’m able to get through every day is knowing that when I open my eyes, Rowan will be beside me and we’ll face whatever comes together.
I grab for the pack I’d taken with me and yank the zipper open. “I have secrets hiding inside.”
“What kind of secrets?” he teasingly asks.
I whip out a condom. “Fun ones.” I glance down at his clearly interested cock. “Super fun ones.”
I tear the condom open while sliding my fingers down his side. He shivers against my touch, as though just that light of a brush is driving him crazy. I press the condom against the head of his cock and slowly roll it down.
“I’m not sure rock fucking is the most comfortable, so I think I should use your body for comfort,” I decide as I give him a gentle push off me. He sits up, but I keep pushing him until he is on his back. He clearly doesn’t seem to mind as he grins at me.
“As long as you’re comfortable,” he says.
Once he’s down, I slide my body forward until I’m sitting on his thighs, his cock in front of me. “I am.” I press my erection into his as I run the lube I’d grabbed from my satchel over our cocks.
“Did you have this all planned?” Rowan asks teasingly.
I lean down, making my cock brush against his as he lifts up to meet me. His lips capture mine before I can answer his question and I sink into his touch as heat rises inside me. A groan escapes my lips as he wraps his hand around my wet cock and strokes me gently.
“I maybe might have thought it was a good way to distract you and I also thought we’d find a nice soft spot in the grass, not some hard rock, but you know how much your mating dances turn me on, so I couldn’t resist,” I tease.
“All I did was climb.”
“All you have to do is look at me and I’m yours.”
He twists his face into a smoldering expression. “Like this?”
“Ooh, purr to me, baby,” I say.
“It’s really kind of creepy when I do it in this form,” he assures me as he takes hold of the nape of my neck and pulls me back down for a kiss as his free hand slides down my ass, leaving a wet trail of lubricant. He presses a finger against my entrance before pushing inside. I slide my hips forward, rubbing my cock against his as I lean down into him, wanting to feel more of his bare skin against me.
As he pushes another finger inside me, his tongue tangles with mine and I rub the base of his cock, unsure how much more I can take before I need all of him inside me. I sit up and push myself onto my knees, drawing away from his fingers before reaching down and grabbing his cock. I slowly lower myself until I can feel the tip brush against me, and as I close my eyes in pleasure, I push down as he opens me up. I glance down at him, catching his eyes as he watches me like everything I do leaves him mesmerized.
“You’re absolutely gorgeous,” he whispers as I stop with him deep inside me.
Slowly, I rock my hips before pushing myself up and sliding back down on him. A moan leaves his lips as I begin to pick up my pace. Heat is rising in me as his hand tightens gently around my cock and he begins to stroke me.
As I move, Rowan pulls me in with his touches. I can’t get enough of this man who fills me with so much love and happiness. Who makes me smile every single day. He makes me grow so much as a person and learn so many new things about myself and about him. I smile down at him before leaning down and kissing him tenderly.
“I love you,” I whisper. “I love you so much.”
“I love you too. You mean the world to me,” Rowan says.
And I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to properly show him that he is my whole world.
But as heat fills me, I know I can’t keep up the pace much longer. Rowan’s hand grips my cock and strokes me as I feel my release near. I moan as I come and sink down on him, rocking my hips as I feel him push into me, caught up in his own release.
Slowly, I pull off him and he draws me down on top of him.
“There’s a rock stabbing me in the ass, but I don’t even care because I get to spend every moment like this with you,” he says.
“You’re far too sweet. How’d you get so sweet?” I say as I kiss his cheek, unable to lift my head from his shoulder enough to reach his lips. The moment is too perfect to move.
“I was born sweet. I also have wicked moves. Did you see how wicked my moves were when I climbed up here?”
“So damn sexy,” I tease. “Thank you, Rowan, for bringing me so much happiness and for lying on the hard rock so I didn’t have to.”
“I don’t think I had a choice,” he jokes.
“You didn’t,” I say as I squeeze him to me and hope this happiness never ends.