Once he finally catches his breath, he licks the small amount of blood from Leo’s shoulder. They’re both shivering with aftershocks under him, and for a moment, he’s tempted to stay put until he’s hard again. But a squeak from his tiny soulmate on the bottom of the pile sets him in motion.
He’s quick to untie them, lying first Leo and then Luca on the bed and pulling the cool sheet up over their cooling bodies. He pushes sweaty hair off their foreheads one after the other.
“So good for me,” he whispers. “Every fucking time. I don’t deserve either of you.”
Leo grunts, too spent to argue, but he leans into the touch. Luca hums a soft, blissed-out sound, rubbing his cheek against Gideon’s thigh before curling back into Leo.
By the time they’re both asleep—Luca’s mouth latched lazily onto Leo’s nipple, his small hand still wrapped around Leo’s softening cock—Gideon sits up, picking up his phone.
As the first light creeps across the floor, Gideon’s already spent several hours finding the right place.
Leo is spooning Luca now, and Gideon can slide up behind him in a cozy copy of last night’s scene. He breathes deeply of his mates’ cinnamon, mocha, and satisfied scents, and finally closes his eyes, allowing a tingle of anticipation to lull him into a dream-filled sleep.
Despite his initial research that night, it still takes a week to get everything organized, largely because Gideon has to be extra careful to protect Luca’s celebrity image. It’s finally thanks to a good friend that he finds a piece of forest safe enough—and big enough—to satisfy his needs.
It feels even more real when he and Luca decide to hold off on any gratification, mutual or otherwise, to build the tension and anticipation.
It’s only a week, right?
Wisely, Luca had asked to wear the cock cage, as it really helps him stay calm—taking the temptation and the possibility of “failure” out of the equation.
Gideon, on the other hand, is using sheer willpower, and so far it’s working really well.
If by “well,” you mean he’s as mean as a snake. He isn’t trying to slip into his murderous rage zone on purpose, but lately, everyone has still managed to become spontaneously stupid.
Despite his best efforts, his mood puts a strain on their usually contented household, and Luca isn’t the only one relieved when he finally tucks him into the car on Saturday morning.
The trip to the mountains doesn’t take long in Gideon’s new Escalade, south on US-441. It’s only about four hours door-to-door to a small cabin in the same woods he ran in as a child. The place is nestled at the opposite end of Gideon’s forest, as far away from his mother’s land as he could get, but it still smells and feels like home.
These woods are still in his bones, even after all this time.
“I love it here, Sugar. It’s so pretty,” Luca whispers, unknowingly caught up in the same reverence the forest always inspires in Gideon. He heads out into the backyard and into the flower garden, where Gideon loses sight of him but can still hear Luca singing tunes fromChicago,and he imagines him doing that sexy shoulder roll for a moment.
His wolf has other things on his mind, though, as Gideon’s “human” side is already closing off in preparation. While he’s still thinking clearly, he unpacks the food, setting out water bottles and snacks, and washing up the fruit. He had put together a box of things ahead of time, and he unloads it from the truck.
The plain cardboard box contains some new things and lots of favorite things, and if Gideon hangs on to himself long enough, the weekend might see him using them. Regardless, he sets them out anyway, knowing that he won’t be able to think later about cleaning them to make them safe for Luca, and that always has to come first.
Perhaps he should check on Luca and feed himbefore…
Where a few minutes earlier, there had been the sound of Luca singing “All that jazz,” now there’s silence, only the occasional cicada and birdsong.
Gideon bolts through the wide-open French doors and into the garden. There on the bench are Luca’s clothes, and a purple sticky note that readsCatch Mein the messiest handwriting he’s ever seen.
That’s the last Gideon sees of his control.
Luca
A roar in the distance sends a shiver down Luca’s spine and a jolt directly to his cock. He spares a moment to be grateful that he spends a lot of time naked in their den, and even more time with a semi-hard-on in his cage, because running full tilt with an erection might have otherwise been distracting. Running with a short, fat plug in his ass sure is new, but even that doesn’t slow him down.
Gideon is on his tail, and it’s almost like Luca can feel hot breath on the back of his neck, despite the distance between them. Based on the roar, Luca figures he’s got a fifteen-minute head start. He could climb a tree or hide, but that’s not the point of this whole little game—because this is arun.
Just like the old days, where alphas ran their mates down in the woods.
Archaic? Certainly.
Horribly nonconsensual? Obviously.
But Luca can’t deny that the instinctive fear pouring into his amygdala right now is oddly euphoric. It’s strange because Luca lives in a heightened state of fight or flight, every second of his life. Sleeping or awake, Luca relies solely on his cognitive behavioral training to overcome the feelings and distinguish between fear and anticipation.
