Don't Read in the Closet: Volume Four (69 page)

little secret!”

“Don’t be stupid, you don’t have anywhere to go.” The man

hooked his thumbs in his pockets, and glanced at his feet.

“I’ll find somewhere, even if I have to go to a homeless shelter.

I’ll live at the police station going through their missing people

database for hours every day. I will do what I have to.” This time he

got in Xan’s face. “I’m here by choice, Xander Dane. Don’t you

forget it!”

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Ro turned around and started stomping off in the direction of the

saloon. He seriously needed a drink, like now. He could hear Xan

walking behind him, but he couldn’t bring himself to give a shit.

He threw open the door and walked up to the bar. Xander had said

he could put stuff on his tab, so that was what he was going to do.

“Hey, Fred. I’ll have a double shot of whiskey, neat. Please.” Ro

called to the bar tender as he climbed onto the stool by the corner.

“No, he won’t, Fred.” Xan stood right behind him.

Fred looked back and forth between the two of them few times

before shaking his head and walking over to another customer.

Ro spun on the stool to face his pain-in-the-ass-angel. “I am not a

child, and I don’t need a father, Xan.”

The man murmured, “Could have fooled me.”

“What was that?” He was getting madder by the minute. His fists

were clenched, fingers whitening, as he tried to hold back his anger.

Who did this man think he was? Honestly, Greek god was just a

euphemism, not literal. He wasn’t Apollo or Zeus; he was only an

ordinary guy…that just happened to be hot.

“Let’s go talk about it at the house, okay?” Ro pulled his arm out

of Xander’s reach, before the man could latch onto it.

“I am not going anywhere with you. Didn’t you hear me outside? I

am finished. I am going to have a few drinks and then head out. You

can leave when you want to though. Alone.” He turned back around

on the stool to ignore the pompous ass.

“I forbid it. Let’s go, Ro.”

He what? Wait. Hold on just one second!

He turned back around, fist bunched and ready to swing, but was

caught off guard when Xander grabbed him and kissed him, hard.

Ro’s teeth bit into his lip as the man crushed their mouths together.

Xan devoured his mouth, right there in the bar in the middle of town.

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He could hear the gasps and murmurs of the other people around, but

they were barely a blip on his radar.

Xander grabbed his hips, and pulled them closer until he could

feel the throb of an erection pressed against his stomach. Lust

consumed him and he couldn’t control the groan that came from deep

in his gut. He needed this man. Desperation filled him and he pulled

Xan tighter, wanting to crawl into his skin. He couldn’t get close

enough.

Before long, Ro was released and his man’s forehead rested

against the top of his head.

“Let’s go home, my Ro.” Xander’s voice was gentle, coaxing.

He was so overwhelmed with emotion that he couldn’t speak, so

he just nodded his head. His angel did want him. He didn’t understand

what had kept Xan so closed off, but whatever it was, he just proved

that it wasn’t important enough to walk away. And that was all that

mattered.

*****

Xander practically dragged Ro home from the bar. He wanted to

throw him over his shoulder and sprint back to the cabin, but thought

that would have been too “cave-man” of him. He was done running

away. If he didn’t stop he was going to lose his mate forever, just

from his own stubbornness and pride. He wouldn’t have that. Ro was

his! Besides, there was no avoiding the mating pull. It had grabbed

him by the balls and wouldn’t let go. He didn’t know why he thought

he could avoid it in the first place. He needed to claim his mate. Now.

He threw the door open to his cabin, shoved Ro inside and kicked

it shut, before pushing the man against the wall. Now that he made his

decision, he wouldn’t wait one more second. He needed more than

ever before. There was no stopping this.

He lifted Ro off the floor and pinned him to the wall, gripping that

fine, tight ass. He kissed and sipped at Ro’s mouth, enjoying the taste

of his mate. There was nothing like the flavor of this man, and the

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smell that was uniquely his. Xander savored it, but at a precipitate

pace. He had put this off too long, drove himself to the breaking point

by waiting. Now he was going to make that up to himself, and to his

love.

Xan kissed Ro’s jaw, moving toward his ear and down his throat.

His mouth watered and his canines protruded, throbbing. His need to

mark was so strong, he couldn’t see straight. He threw his mate over

his shoulder and headed to the bedroom, cave-man be damned. Once

in the room, Xan tossed Ro on the bed so hard, he bounced when he

landed.

Chuckling, his mate started removing his clothes. “In a hurry are

we?”

“Less talking, more stripping.” He responded gruffly. He

practically shredded his clothes in his haste to remove them. Once he

was naked, he moved to the bed and rolled his mate under him. Then

he froze.

“Umm…how do I do this without hurting you?”

Ro chuckled again and put his hands flat on Xan’s chest and

pushed. He frowned but moved away, then realized the man had

rolled over to dig through the night stand. His little mate pulled out a

tube of lubricating jelly and handed it to Xan.

“Put some on your fingers and use them to open me up.” Xander

took the lube and growled as he watched Ro lay back and spread his

legs wide. The man’s straining cock stood rigid right in front of Xan’s

face. He had to taste it.

Xander took the perfect shaft to the root in one gulp, swallowed a

few times and groaned. “Oh love, you taste so good!” He licked the

erection a few more times, then pulled back and opened the slick. He

put some on his fingers and dribbled more into the crack of that

beautiful ass.

He was maneuvering himself into a more comfortable position,

trying to free up both hands, when there was a loud banging on the

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door. Ro panted out “ignore it,” but the knocking was insistent. Then

he heard Alpha Thomas’s voice.

Damn! What the hell was the Alpha doing here? He thought of the

stunt he had pulled at the bar. Oh yeah, word traveled fast in this

town. He let out a groan of misery, and hung his head. He knew

Thomas was going nowhere fast and there was no way to avoid what

was coming. He ran his hand through his hair and blew out an irritated

breath before rising from the bed and attempting to pull on his pants,

only to realize they were in pieces. He dropped the fabric and moved

to his drawer for a new pair. Ro just lay there like he was frozen.

“Xander. No. They’ll go away!” His mate sounded pissed and

reached for him.

“No he won’t, my Ro. This is important. I have to answer. Put

some clothes on, and we will continue this after we talk to Thomas,

okay?”

Ro didn’t look convinced, but he did what he was told.

After Xan had his pants on, he walked over to the door and pulled

it open to see his pissed off Alpha on the front porch.

Oh, how fun.

****

Ro followed his soon to be lover out into the living room still

buttoning his pants, then froze as he saw the huge man in the door

way. The man Xan had called Thomas had to be at least six four and

three hundred pounds. As Ro stared, the giant looked over at him and

if looks could kill, he would have had a very painful death.

“What the hell is going on, Xander?” Thomas roared.

His man lowered his head and tilted it to the side. “I found my

mate, Alpha Thomas.”

Alpha? Mate? Alrighty then. What the hell
was
going on here?

“Your mate?” Thomas looked at Ro again and then did the

weirdest thing he had ever seen. The man sniffed the air.

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After getting a big whiff the man closed his eyes and all of the

fight seemed to leave his body. “Well damn. I have never heard of this

happening before. Is this….a problem for you?”

“No, Alpha. I want to claim him.”

Ro had never seen this side of Xander. His normally pushy man

was…submissive. What in the….

“Xan? What is going on? What are you talking about when you

say ‘claim’?” Ro knew his voice sounded breathy, but between what

was going on when Thomas got there and this conversation, he

couldn’t exactly help it.

Thomas looked up again and gave Xander a hard look. “He

doesn’t know?”

Xan looked down again and shook his head. “ I …. not yet.”

“And you were going to claim him? Xander, you know better. He

has to have a choice. You either tell him, or I will.” Thomas placed

his hands on his hips, fists curled in anger.

“I will tell him, Alpha.”

“NOW!” The man roared.

“Yes, Sir.” If possible, his big, strong man sounded even more

submissive. How strange.

Thomas turned on his heel and slammed the door behind him.

He just stared at Xander with an expectant expression. The man

had better tell him what was going on, or they were going to have

serious issues. Xan looked guilty. Oh this couldn’t be good.

His angel looked him in the eye. “Ro, you had better sit down.”

“Xan….”

“No.” Ro actually jumped at the abrupt harshness in that order.

Ah, back to his pushy self.

He went over to the couch and sat down, looking back at Xan with

a look that said ‘now what asshole.’

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His man walked over and crouched down in front of him and

grabbed his hand like he was going to propose or something.

“Ro, I am not a normal man”

He snorted. “You didn’t have to tell me that.”

Xander’s expression got stern. “I am serious. Please listen and

stop with the jokes.”

Okayyyyyyy.

“Have you ever heard of werewolves?” Oh, Jeez, this kept getting

better and better.

He tried not to laugh. “Yes.”

“Ok, well I am ….”

Ro interrupted with peals of laughter. “Oh come on.
You
are a

werewolf?”

Xander got up and stormed across the room, then looked back.

“No! I am a shifter.”

He laughed a bit more, then noticed that Xan was not kidding. Not

by his expression at least.

“You’re serious? Are you saying you can shift into a wolf?”

There was no answer. His man just disappeared, but in his place

was a big, white wolf. “AAAHH!!” Ro shuffled up to the back of the

couch and curled into a ball. “XANDER!”

He looked around the room, but Xan was nowhere and didn’t

answer him. He looked back at the wolf, who was now lying down.

He looked into familiar ice blue eyes and the big animal let out a

whimper.

“Oh, Shit!” Ro’s whole body flinched at the sound.

He looked closer and realized that this was the same wolf that he

almost hit on the road when he… His head all of a sudden started

pounding, but he got faint glimpses of driving in pouring rain.

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Ro closed his eyes for a minute to get his bearings. When he

opened them, the wolf was looking at him like a dog that had

destroyed his owner’s favorite shoes. He carefully got off of the couch

and hesitantly made his way closer to the animal.

“Xander?” Still crouched, the wolf crawled forward till he got

about a foot from Ro before dropping to his side and rolling onto his

back.

“This is….unbelievable.” He touched his fingers to the soft fur.

The wolf licked him in response. When nothing else happened, he

started stroking the animal. As he reached the belly, his man shifted

right under his hands, Xan’s hard cock slapping him on the arm.

Ro couldn’t say anything. What was to say? He just looked at his