Valen would never get enough of this. He gripped Aaron’s ass with one hand and plundered his sweet little hole over and over. Pleasure built to a crescendo in him and he lost all finesse as he fucked Aaron harder and faster.
Aaron kept crying out, his need overwhelming him. Valen began to jack his dick roughly, and Aaron shouted, his seed jetting out in great pulses.
It set Valen’s release off. He hammered into Aaron a few more times then he couldn’t even manage the breath to yell as he came. He shook and ground against Aaron’s hole until he finished. It took him several minutes to get enough air into his lungs. “Gods, Aaron. Gods.” He couldn’t think of anything else to say. Aaron had just turned him inside out.
Aaron clenched his butt, which set those soft inner walls to massaging Valen’s cock.
“Trying to get me hard again?” Valen was finally able to ask.
Aaron squeezed his cock. “Yes. If you can.”
How could Valen refuse a challenge like that?
Epilogue
Morning came too soon. Valen groaned and sat up when sunlight slipped over his face. “Your window is leaking sunlight.”
Aaron laughed softly. “It tends to do that. Sorry.” He started to sit up and hissed. “Oh, wow. My, um. I can definitely still feel you, just like you promised.”
“You don’t look happy about it.” In fact, Aaron was frowning. “What’s wrong?”
Aaron looked at him through dark, thick lashes. “Well, I’d hoped we could, hmm, do what we did in the shower again.”
“Fuck?” Valen asked. “Or wash each other off?”
“Fuck.” Aaron fanned his face. “Gods, saying it makes me want you even more, and I didn’t know such a thing was possible.”
Valen considered their options. “How about this—?” He got up and went into the bathroom. The lotion was still in the shower.
“What are we doing?” Aaron asked. He saw the lotion. “I really don’t think we can do that. I’m sore.”
Valen opened the lotion. “I’m not fucking you. I’m going to get up and ride that pretty cock of yours until we both come.”
Aaron gulped.
“Arms up.” Valen waited until Aaron obeyed. “Good, honey. I’m going to hold your wrists and leave marks for you to admire later.”
“I like that.” Aaron cast his gaze down.
Valen couldn’t have that. “Don’t hide. Look at me.”
Aaron did. Valen took some lotion and coated Aaron’s erect shaft with it.
Then he got on the bed and scooted into position.
“What about the way you do me, with your fingers?”
Valen shook his head. “I like it this way.” He took his time working Aaron’s dick into him. It’d been a long time since he’d bottomed, and he hadn’t lied. Valen didn’t like to be fingered open. He liked to work himself onto a stiff cock just like he was doing—slowly and with a nice, hot burn.
The fat crown was the hardest part. Aaron’s shaft wasn’t above average in length, but it was thick, especially the glans.
It took Valen several minutes to get it into him, then he purred happily. “Nice cock, honey.” Valen leaned over and gripped Aaron’s wrists.
Aaron’s eyes rolled back and Valen started to move, rocking up and down, taking more and more of Aaron’s length in every time. “Going to want to do this again, soon. I’ve never loved riding anyone like I do you.” Then Valen quit talking because he had to chase the pleasure building inside him.
It didn’t take long. Once he found the right angle, and Aaron’s cock hit that sweet spot, there was no holding back. Valen held Aaron’s wrists tighter.
“Gonna ride you hard,” he warned before doing just that.
It was perfect.
Aaron
was perfect. Every time he shared sounds with Valen, it made Valen want to pound his chest with pride.
Aaron tried to thrust up into him, but Valen used his feet to keep Aaron’s legs parted. Valen was controlling this. He rotated his hips the next time he went all the way down.
“Val!” Aaron’s eyes shot open and he arched his back. “Gonna—”
“Do it.” Valen was close too. He used one hand to jack off. “Aaron, Aaron!”
Valen came, his cock jetting cum onto Aaron’s skin.
He let go of Aaron’s wrists and eased off his cock. “Ow.” That fat cap didn’t feel nearly as good coming out then.
“Sorry.” Aaron trailed a finger through the semen on his chest. “Don’t think I can move. My butt’s sore in more than one way.”
“Let me see.” Valen had been ready to drift back to sleep. Now he wanted to see if there were any handprints on Aaron’s ass.
Aaron rolled over onto his belly. “Is it still red?”
Valen touched Aaron’s ass. “Yes, and a little warm. Do you still like it?”
“Hells yes. I want to do that again.” Aaron wiggled his butt. “What else can we do?”
Valen laughed, delighted with his mate. “The question is, what can’t we do?”
Aaron felt Valen’s head. “Are you sick? You’re laughing a lot and I don’t understand what you mean.”
“I mean, there are so many things we can do together, so many things to explore. I think it’s easier to name the stuff I wouldn’t want to do,” Valen explained.
“Like what?”
Valen took Aaron’s hand. “Like nothing that would seriously hurt you, No water play. No—”
“I like water,” Aaron said. “A lot. Why can’t we have sex in the water?”
Valen decided not to continue naming off some of the other things he didn’t want to do. Chances were, Aaron didn’t know about them anyway. He still had to answer the question. “It’s not about sex in the water. It involves urinating in a proprietary way. At least it does for the shifters I know that do it. A way of marking their territory.”
Aaron looked absolutely horrified. “They pee on people? On their mates?”
Valen nodded.
“That’s awful!” Aaron pursed his lips, then added, “I guess, unless they like it.”
“They do. I don’t.”
Aaron gave him a narrow look. “Good, because no one is peeing on me.”
“Same.” Valen cocked his head. “Someone is coming.”
“Mother, I bet.” Aaron grabbed for the blanket. “Cover— Oh. Never mind.” Then he paled. “The room smells like sex!”
Valen got up and opened the window. It wouldn’t air the room out in time to rid it of the odor of semen and sex but it might put Aaron at ease, which was the best he could hope for.
When someone knocked on the door, Valen was there to unlock and open it. “Walter.”
Walter wrinkled his nose. “Well, uh. Guess you two have been busy. I’m just glad I didn’t show up earlier.”
“Oh, let me melt into the floor,” Aaron groaned.
“I just wanted to tell you, almost everyone has agreed to join with your pack.” Walter seemed amused by it, too. “Imagine that. Humans and shifters becoming one. Sort of. It’s a sign of progress, finally, for all of us.”
Aaron let out a whoop.
“I didn’t expect an answer so soon.” Although after nearly starving then being on the fringe of an attack, perhaps most of the people had been ready for a chance at a better life. “Almost everyone?”
Walter shrugged. “Couple of people say they’re going to Oxton. They want farther away from here than a day’s ride.”
“Then let them go.” Valen was beginning to get really excited about this. “We can all work to build homes and a meeting house for our pack. We need to make another meat storage shed, and a root cellar, I think. Lanaka said we’d all need to start wearing some clothes. That part might be trickier.”
“We’ll all adjust. We’re bringing the horses, too, unless they’ll be in danger?”
Valen grimaced at the idea of eating a horse. They were too pretty and intelligent. “No, they won’t. There’s plenty of other meat sources around. About being the alpha, I will welcome your counsel and promise to listen with an open mind. If that isn’t enough, we can work out something.”
“I’ll agree to that. The people here are probably going to come to me with their problems, me and Anita, that is. It’s what they know,” Walter said.
“If you feel there’s anything that needs to be discussed with me when they do, we’ll go from there.” Valen believed they could make this work.
Walter held out his hand. “We can shake on it. Oh, and Lanaka told me to inform you that she is holding the ceremonies for you and Aaron tomorrow night. Not sure what she meant.”
Valen thought of the leather satchel he’d lost somewhere on the trek back to the pack lands. “It means she’s going to perform our binding ceremony, declaring us mates, and also, there’s a ritual that must be done to set me in my position before the pack. We’ve acted without it out of necessity. Now it is a pressing matter. Everyone is welcome to come.”
“I don’t think everyone can be moved so quickly, or who will want to make more than one trip if they can’t be settled in yet. It will just depend on several factors. Anita, Matthew and I will be there.”
“How is Matthew doing?” Aaron asked.
Walter chuckled. “He’s only got a small puncture, and he’s fine. Rivvie is keeping him company.”
“I bet that thrills Matthew,” Valen murmured.
“It does, and that’s great. Matthew needs to be rattled.” Walter tapped the doorframe. “Okay, well if you two want to come to the kitchen after you shower, we have breakfast courtesy of several new friends.”
“Will do.” Valen was proud of his pack for providing for the people of the village.
“He could smell us,” Aaron moaned. “Oh gods. He told us to shower. It’s embarrassing.”
Valen arched an eyebrow. “We could have not had sex and—”
“Don’t even say that, you cruel man.” Aaron beamed at him. “I love you. I said it last night, and I’m going to say it every day we share together.”
“And I’ll be glad to hear it. I love you, Aaron Olsen.”
* * * *
He wasn’t nervous. Excited, yes. Not nervous. Today would make everything official—commitment to Aaron, and to the pack.
There was so much to do. Homes to build, storage sheds to build, relationships to create.
Valen intended to meet every single person who moved in with the pack. He wanted to know them all and be available to help any who needed him.
Someone might need to help him if the day dragged any slower. Valen didn’t rush as he got ready. He made certain that his hair was slicked back and his face not too hairy.
He was calm until he saw how many people had decided to attend. The gathering for the ceremonies was the largest Valen had ever seen. When Lanaka had offered her cave to house the former villagers in, the problem of where to put them had been resolved and with the help of their new pack, everything had been moved over in two days.
And fitting so many people in the cave had come as a shock to Valen. He’d had no idea about the size of the cave. He’d joked about making it the home for all of the pack and Lanaka had threatened to give him a white streak in his hair if he didn’t get dwellings built for everyone quickly.
Valen wasn’t eager to have white hair.
The one person he wished could be there, his father, was hopefully watching from the spirit world.
I am thinking of you on this day, Father.
Valen straightened the pants he’d agreed to wear. He wasn’t sure he’d ever like them. Most of the shifters would be wearing loincloths, including the women. After a long discussion, Valen had made it clear that he would not require the women to wear any more clothes than the men. Breasts were not offensive—no part of the body was. He had hopes that the prudishness could be bred out of everyone.
The pants he had put on solely for Aaron’s sake. Aaron had wanted to see him in them, and Anita had made them specifically for Valen from material she’d saved to make wedding suits for her sons. After having seen an example of such a suit, Valen had vetoed wearing one. They were ugly things as a whole, mainly due to the long, shapeless coat that hung nearly to a man’s knees. But the pants weren’t so bad by themselves.
So Valen had compromised. He would cover himself up to an extent in the name of making the villagers happy. That being the case, Anita had then ended up with enough material to make Valen and Aaron both a new pair of pants. Like Valen, Aaron had declined to wear a top.
Valen couldn’t wait to see him. Lanaka had insisted that they spent last night and all of today apart. Valen was ready to tear down the cave walls to find Aaron if he had to.
“Lanaka said it’s time.” Rivvie wiped his palms on his loincloth. “This thing makes my balls sweat. It’s gross.”
“So is hearing about your ball sweat, Riv. I’ll pass.” Valen checked to make sure his pants weren’t wrinkled. Maybe, despite his griping to the contrary, he kind of liked the pants. Not for daily wear.
“Are you nervous?” Rivvie asked, hooking his arm through Valen’s.
“Not at all. Aaron is all I want in a man, and I am ready to take my place as the alpha in an official capacity. I do wish I hadn’t lost the satchel I’d been given.” It made him sad to think of having lost the only things his father had given him, but Rivvie didn’t even have that much.
“I’m sure Lanaka will have something to use for both ceremonies.” Rivvie escorted Valen to a clearing. It wasn’t where ceremonies were usually held. That place would need to be rebuilt.
Valen liked the clearing, with the thick green grass and trees with long, moss-like branches. Pink and yellow wildflowers grew here and there. There was a pleasant scent of berries and roses, both of which grew wild around the northern perimeter of the space.
And overhead, the sky was warm and welcoming whether it was day or night.
Even better, Aaron would be joining him soon. Valen’s heart and stomach both felt fluttery and light, as if they could float off on the wings of joy. Silly, and he’d never say so to anyone other than Aaron. It was the truth.
Valen passed by people he’d known all his life, and ones he’d only met in the past day or two. He murmured greetings to everyone he could, then he stopped in front of the small altar where Lanaka stood. Rivvie took his place to the right of Valen.
“Behold, your mate, Aaron Olsen,” Lanaka announced.
Valen turned and his eyes burned with unshed tears as he watched Aaron approach, admired his plaited blond hair, his slender body. It was the love in his eyes, the tenderness in his smile, that mattered the most to Valen.