past. She is my mentor and mistress, and far stronger than I. But, Kevin, it became more after that. So

much more.”

He wished he could tell if Roman was lying, but with few exceptions, Roman was a master of control

over his emotions. As he started drawing back, Roman sat up in bed and clutched the back of Kevin’s

head. His mouth came down in a savage, hungry kiss, his tongue tracing the seam in Kevin’s lips. Kevin

opened his mouth to Roman’s kiss and Roman plunged his tongue inside, sweeping it across the sensitive

roof of Kevin’s mouth, over his aching, elongated incisors, and soon they were tongue wrestling as

Roman grabbed at Kevin’s arms, pulling him down and against the front of his body. His erection

throbbed hot and strong between them. Roman rubbed it against Kevin’s belly.

Kevin moaned, said, “You used me, took advantage of my desperation…my need to be part of the pack.

How do I know I can trust you?”

Roman drew back, licked Kevin’s lips, said, “Would I tell you all this, endanger my own life, if I did not

love you?”

Kevin almost said something, but Roman kissed him again, a bruising, hungry kiss. God, the taste and

scent and feel of Roman filled Kevin’s whole world. Kevin held Roman down, licked and bit along the

curve of his neck. He buried his face in Roman’s hair and breathed in the loamy, wild forest smell of him.

It wasn’t enough. Kevin wanted to eat him alive, plunder him from top to bottom. He forced Roman’s legs

apart with his knee, rubbed his swollen testes against him. He growled low in his throat as he rubbed his

scent into his lover’s skin.

Roman groaned in response and spread his legs far enough apart for Kevin to bump his hole with his

swollen cock. The excitement of his arousal was too much for Kevin and he began thrusting wildly against

the front of Roman’s body like an animal in heat. The angle wasn’t quite right, so Roman clutched his ass

and positioned him correctly. Kevin thrust hard and Roman muffled a soft yelp against the sweating

hollow of Kevin’s throat.

They fitted each other perfectly.

It was like heaven, like coming home. Kevin humped his lover frantically, driving himself deeper and

deeper inside Roman’s body even as Roman grunted and his entire body bucked with the force of the

impacts. He clutched Kevin’s buttocks, dragged his clawed hands down them, leaving deep grooves that

healed almost immediately. “Bite me,” he hissed through long teeth, and Kevin bowed his head and bit the

side of Roman’s neck. He held onto Kevin’s ass as Kevin’s thrusts became wild, bestial, the beast in him

wanting to fill and claim every part of his lover, to make it his.

“Oh goddess…” Roman gasped out in delight. “Fuck me, my love. Fuck me hard.”

“My pleasure,” Kevin growled. He fucked Roman hard.

“Harder.”

He thrust in long, tempered strokes, dragging Roman’s hips up off the bed. He grasped Roman’s ramrod

dick, stroked it so volleys of hot spunk immediately bubbled out the hole and spurted against Kevin’s

chest. Roman thrashed on the pillow, tossing his head back. His eyes all but rolled up in his head as his

seed jetted against Kevin’s chest, neck and chin. Moaning at the sublime pleasure of it all, Kevin licked

the hot come off his lips. The taste sent Kevin over the edge. Leaning over Roman’s prone form, Kevin

shoved himself deep inside his lover, shivered all over, and came, lunging inside and pulsing his seed

deep within Roman’s body.

Finished, the wolf sated, as was the man, Kevin snuggled down against Roman’s warm, sweat-slicked

body and breathed in the scent of his hair and pillow. “I still don’t trust you,” he murmured against

Roman’s roughened cheek.

Roman put a strong arm around Kevin. “You don’t have to trust me to love me,” he answered.

He was right. Kevin loved Roman. There was no way he was leaving the pack or his lover. He could no

longer bear to be alone as before. He didn’t care what Anya wanted, and he didn’t care how many

werewolf warriors Roman sent after him to make him leave, Kevin wasn’t going anywhere.

Moments later, he heard footsteps in the hallway. Someone was headed for Roman’s room. Kevin

stiffened and dug himself under the covers. A moment later, the door opened and Jonah poked his head in.

“Sorry, Roman, but you should know that Anya is looking for you.”

Roman sighed. “Thank you, Jonah.” Then, to Kevin, Roman said, “Jonah and Toby are two of the only

three werewolves who are truly loyal to me. Fenrir being the third.”

“Fenrir who tried to kill me,” Kevin muttered, not without hurt in his voice.

“He didn’t, though, did he?” Jonah said. He gave Kevin a look. “Believe it or not, Fenrir is good people.

He’s loyal like the rest of us are to our alpha.” He quietly shut the door again.

“Go now,” Roman said, pushing Kevin away. His eyes were yellow as the wolf took hold of him. “Wait

for me to send word to you.”

“I don’t want to leave you,” Kevin said. “I could stay, fight Anya, if I have to.”

But Roman hushed him. “You have to go. You might even have to leave the city. It’s a possibility.”

“No,” Kevin said as panic seized him. “I won’t run, Roman. I’ll stay and fight for you and the pack.”

Roman gave him a hard, pleading look. “If you stay, Anya will entrap you. Cage you. Please go.”

“She’s just a werewolf.”

“No, Kevin, she’s much more than that.”

The urgency in Roman’s voice spurred Kevin to action. He kissed Roman one last time and quickly

moved to the window. “You’re right, you know,” he said, and Roman looked confused as well as sexily

disheveled as he sat up in bed. “I might not trust you, but I do love you.”

He dropped down to the ground below, picked up his pack and clothes, and fled into the forest.

***

Chapter Twenty-One

Wait for me to send word to you.

It was like something out of a Nineteenth Century romance novel, Kevin thought. He stood behind the bar

at the Barracuda, shaking a martini mixer, and studying the hoards of eager young men dancing, hooking

up, or hooting after the dancers onstage. He kept hoping to spot Roman somewhere in the crowd, but for

the past week he’d been noticeably absent. Kevin had gone so far as to drive by the mansion a few times,

feeling entirely like a stalker, but no one seemed to be home, and he hadn’t had the courage to knock on

the door. He’d given thought to driving up to the lodge again, but a part of him was afraid Roman was

right and Anya was just waiting for him to show up so she could…cage him?

“Man at the end wants a Manhattan,” Allison said, swishing by.

Her words struck a desperate pang in Kevin and he dropped the martini shaker onto the floor as he turned

to find the gentleman in question. It wasn’t Roman.

A moment later, he heard a voice say, “I wanted that shaken, not murdered, barkeep.”

He looked at the businessman with his tie undone who had ordered the martini. “Sorry.” The guy was