Savage Satisfaction Page 7

  The howl that erupted startled William so badly he nearly fell out of the tree.

  “Bloody fucking hell,” he said, heart racing.

  Christoffer emerged from the undergrowth exactly where William had been looking. The wolf lifted its nose and made a huffing noise. Was he laughing?

  “How did you do that?” William demanded. In response the wolf darted into the forest.

  After a few more heart-attack-inducing surprises, William learned to spot the clues—a leaf that shook, a chattering squirrel—and caught Christoffer twice.

  “Bang!” he yelled, childlike in his enthusiasm. The wolf, head low in shame, crept from the bushes. “Haha!” William yelled. The adrenaline of their game made him feel light and powerful.

  The wolf lifted his nose. His jaws parted and his tongue lolled out, nearly doglike. There was human intelligence in his eyes, and William fancied that Christoffer was enjoying himself too.

  The wolf jerked his head toward the forest. William raised his brows. Christoffer repeated the action.

  “Well, Lassie?” he asked, exasperated. Christoffer growled. He jerked his head toward the forest, ran a few steps, then came back and looked at William expectantly.

  “You want to show me something?”

  The wolf shook his head.

  “You want me to follow you?”

  He nodded.

  William climbed down the tree, dropping the last meter. He wasn’t afraid, though he wondered whether maybe he should have been.

  Christoffer nudged him forward, then took the lead. They started off walking. William would have sworn there was no path through this part of the forest, but the route they took was clear.

  The wolf kept looking back at William, who raised his brows in question. Christoffer picked up the pace in response—trotting along on silent paws. William matched his pace, jogging gently behind him.

  The pace quickened, and then again, until they were tearing through the forest. Christoffer brought them to an open space where they could run side by side.

  Air whipped past William’s face, filling his head with the scents of the forest. The sunlight beat down on him. His legs pumped, arms swung and chest heaved as he pushed himself to run, run.

  The wolf, his wolf was there at his side—partner, protector. He could imagine he was a wolf too, running arrogantly, happily through a world that was his for the taking.

  William had never felt so alive.

  A fox dashed across their path but they ignored it. Now was not the hunt, now was the time to run.

  William threw back his head and let out a great shout of triumph. This was his forest. Beside him the wolf howled. The forest quaked in fear.

  They reached the far side of the clearing and had to slow. William was near the end of his endurance and he paused to catch his breath. He regretted he did not have the strength to run like that forever.

  The wolf disappeared only to reappear as a naked man.

  There was wildness in Christoffer’s eyes, and William wondered if that’s what he looked like—raw and natural.

  Christoffer wrapped his arms around William, bringing them chest to chest, groin to groin, and kissed him.

  *

  It was glorious to run with his Alpha. The pleasure of being in the forest, the silliness of their game, had lightened Christoffer’s heavy heart. There was nothing—not even sex—better than a beautiful forest on a sunny day. He’d watched William up in that tree and thought how sad it was that he was there, removed from the wonder of the woods.

  So he’d coaxed him down, led him through the woods, then run with him. They’d run side by side, and Christoffer hoped that William could feel the forest as he did, despite the lord’s limited body.

  He was filled with joy. As a human he would have had to find a more masculine way of saying it, but as a wolf it was joy. He was free to run but safe in the company of his Alpha. He was valued, for he was his Alpha’s protector.

  He slipped into the woods, changing quickly from wolf to human.

  William was standing in a pool of shadow, his salt-and-pepper hair slicked to his temples with sweat. His eyes were bright.

  Christoffer wanted him.

  So he kissed him.

  William was stiff in his arms, rigid with shock. His lips were salty with sweat. Christoffer opened his mouth, licking the seam of William’s.

  William’s hand fisted in Christoffer’s hair and jerked him back.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Claiming my kiss,” Christoffer said.

  William flung him away. “I don’t fuck other men.”

  Christoffer’s heart shriveled. “You don’t know what you’re missing.” He tried to laugh, but the sound came out bitter and he feared his feelings showed on his face.

  “I’m sorry, but I don’t like men.” William’s voice was soft with pity.

  Christoffer didn’t want his pity. “Liar. I can see your goddamned hard-on from here. Homophobic asshole.”

  William looked down at the front of his trousers as if he were surprised by what he saw. Maybe he was surprised. “I-I—” he stammered. He looked up and Christoffer saw shock and confusion on his face.

  Christoffer grabbed him again, pulling him in for a kiss. His hands went to William’s cheeks, but he’d forgotten William’s injury until he yelled in pain and again fisted his hand in Christoffer’s hair, jerking him back.

  But this time he didn’t let go.

  He drove Christoffer to his knees. “Do you want me?” William growled.

  “Yes,” Christoffer said. William’s grip on his hair was tight, commanding.

  “Show me.” With his free hand, William lowered the zipper of his pants.

  Christoffer couldn’t believe this was happening. Maybe he was dreaming. If that was the case, he wanted to make sure he experienced it all before waking.

  Christoffer reached trembling hands into the open zipper. Slipping his fingers into the fly of William’s boxers, he touched springy hair and smooth, hard skin. He drew out William’s cock.

  William was uncut and wide. Just the way Christoffer liked them.

  Usually Christoffer was the one standing while some pretty boy serviced him. He was a top almost exclusively, but in this situation there was no denying who was dominant.

  He stroked William’s cock, starting with the balls, still concealed within his pants, then along the length to the tip, which had a single dollop of pre-cum on it.

  Christoffer blew on the tip, his eyes on William’s face. He’d half expected the other man to be looking away. Fake straights often looked away, not wanting to confront what they were doing, but William was staring down at him.

  Christoffer licked the tip of William’s cock.

  They both shuddered.

  Christoffer kissed and sucked the very tip, wanting him wild, wanting him desperate to fuck his face. When Christoffer tried raking William’s cock very gently with his teeth, the other man let out a shout and forced his cock into Christoffer’s mouth.

  William’s cock pushed Christoffer’s tongue back and pressured his jaws apart. He clamped his lips around the cock, his nose pressed into the open fly of William’s pants, and sucked hard.

  William let out another cry and took Christoffer’s head in both hands, guiding it up and down his cock. Christoffer bobbed his head with William’s guidance until the rhythm was too fast. William was fucking his cock in and out of Christoffer’s mouth as Christoffer gripped his ass.

  This felt right, it felt good. The high from the run still thrummed through Christoffer’s veins, mingling with his arousal. He took one hand from William’s ass and wrapped it around his own cock, jerking in time to William’s thrusts.

  William slammed in one last time, shouting as he came. Christoffer swallowed and swallowed again. The other man’s orgasm triggered his own and Christoffer came, his sperm shooting from his cock to hit William’s legs.

  William pulled his shaft from Christoffer’s mouth and sank t
o his knees. Christoffer wiped his hand on some leaves as he opened and closed his mouth. His jaw hurt.

  William was staring at him, face a hard, cold mask. Finally he said, “We should go. Change back, I did not ask you to return to human.”

  Christoffer bowed his head. Shame, a too familiar sensation, washed over him. It had been a beautiful moment. Had been.

  He was happy to change to wolf as William zipped his pants. Christoffer led the way back to the hunting platform. William commanded him to change into a human once there and, while Christoffer still knelt on the forest floor, William slipped the collar around his neck.

  He was still a prisoner and now, whatever bond he’d formed with William was probably gone. He dressed silently. He felt dirty and used. Foolish and betrayed.

  Don’t. You can’t hate this man, he’s your Alpha.

  They returned to the pen, where William locked Christoffer in without another word.

  Chapter Six

  He paced the cell, looking like what he was—a caged animal.

  Mirela watched Christoffer march, his head low, arms hanging. She’d expected him to return laughing and smiling—he’d been allowed outside—but he hadn’t returned in triumph.

  Something had gone wrong.

  She wanted to ask but she was afraid she’d say something to make it worse. Since coming here almost nothing she did or said was right.

  It was the collar. She traced its now familiar pattern with her fingertips. How she hated it. The presence of the collar made her anxious. She knew that if she could just get it off she would do or say the right things and then the lord wouldn’t be angry at her.

  Every time she saw his bandaged face she wanted to throw up. Had there been more space for her to fly she would not have missed and he would now be lacking a right eye.

  She never did anything right but the wolf, it seemed, could do no wrong.

  Late into the night, after Lord William had locked Christoffer in again, they would sit up talking. At first Mirela had stayed awake, sitting in the corner of her cage to be close to them, but they so pointedly ignored her she’d given that up. Once she curled up on her cot away from them and let her breathing even out as though sleeping, they would talk much more freely.

  The camaraderie between men she understood, and after she worked out “cricket” meant a game and not a bug she’d been much less confused.

  But the way they spoke to each other was puzzling. Their voices would soften from the guffawing bass of men to low tones ripe with feeling. After they talked about sports they would begin to speak of travel and places they loved, after that music and food.

  Was Lord William like Christoffer in that he wanted to have sex with other men?

  The idea disturbed Mirela but it was several days before she really understood why.

  She was jealous. Not only because Christoffer was allowed out of his cage, but because he was receiving time and attention from Lord William. Attention she wanted for herself, and not just because she was bored or wanted out.

  She wanted William the way a woman wanted a man. Or the way a man wanted a man, if Christoffer was to be believed.

  She’d been attracted to him when she first saw him—he was wealthy, older and powerful, all things she valued in a man upon whom the rest of her life would depend. She’d grown more attracted to him when he protected her from the wolf the first day, and the few touches she’d received made pleasure curl in her belly.

  When Christoffer had mentioned William’s attraction to her, the idea had planted itself in her mind and started to grow. By the time he let her out that fateful day, part of her had accepted, and wanted, William to have sex with her.

  But the longings of the woman were secondary to that of the falcon, and she’d acted to free the falcon rather than find favor as a woman.

  Christoffer stopped pacing for a moment and touched his hands to his lips. Spinning on his heel, he darted into the bathroom. She heard water running, a thump and then the sound of his retching. She ran for the bathroom, pulling her door open.

  “Are you ill?” she asked. His hair dangled in front of his eyes and she scooped it back, rubbing his back with her other hand.

  “I’m a fucking idiot,” he said, voice echoing against the inside of the toilet bowl. He reached for the handle, forgetting it dangled from the overhead tank high above their heads. Mirela stood and flushed it for him, then handed him a wad of toilet paper.

  Christoffer wiped his mouth and then threw the paper in the bowl before washing his hands.

  “Why are you an idiot?” she asked quietly.

  “Don’t ever fuck straight guys,” he said, leaning his forehead against the bar-coated wall.

  “Uh, who else would I fuck?”

  He barked out a laugh and scrubbed his damp hands over his face and neck. “You’re right. You should fuck straight guys. I shouldn’t.”

  What he was saying finally penetrated and Mirela gasped. “You had sex with Lord William?”

  “No. Well, define sex.”

  “Define it? Sex is sex.”

  “Says the virgin.”

  “What did you do?”

  Christoffer looked at her, shrugged and left the bathroom. With a humph she followed him. Though the dual bathroom doors meant they could move back and forth between each other’s cages, they had not. Mirela knew she wouldn’t have been welcome, and it was clear Christoffer had no wish to come to her.

  He made a noise of disgust when he saw she’d followed him. “Get out.”

  “No. Tell me what you did.”

  “I was the one who got done.”

  It was so annoying that she never knew what he was talking about. “Explain.”

  “You don’t want to hear this.”

  “I do!”

  “Really?” Christoffer whirled on her.

  Mirela backed up until she hit bars.

  Christoffer loomed over her. “I had oral sex with him. Know what that means?” he hissed at her, his face twisted in a mean grimace.

  She shook her head, scared.

  “It means that I knelt down and he put his cock in my mouth and he fucked my mouth until he came. He came in my mouth and I swallowed it.”

  Mirela blinked. “That works?”

  He groaned and leaned his head into the bars. It brought his chest close to her and he smelled very good. She took another deep breath and his smell caused the same curl of pleasure in her belly that William’s touch had.

  “You’re very innocent.”

  “I’m learning. You’re an ass.”

  He laughed, a real one this time and, quite unexpectedly, hugged her. His arms were muscled and strong. Mirela leaned her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes.

  His laughter faded as she wrapped her arms around him.

  They stood that way, just holding each other, for a long time. She wondered what he was thinking. Her leg muscles were fluttering and her face felt flushed.

  “Mirela.” He groaned, tipping her face up with his hand. She looked up into blue eyes. His hair was in front of his face again and she pushed it away.

  “You smell very good,” she said, “and I like the way it feels when you hold me.”

  “No.” He pushed her away. “Have you been listening? I just had sex with Lord William.”

  “I thought you liked other men,” she said, confused. Had he been unwilling? Had William forced him? She thought rape was something that only happened to women who were too bold and strayed too far from their families, but until a few days ago she hadn’t really known men could like other men.

  “I do.”

  “So it was not rape?’

  “Rape? Jesus. No. Why would you think that?”

  “You’re upset. You threw up.”

  “I’m upset because after it was over William threw me back in here. He pretended like it never happened.”

  “Oh, you hoped he wouldn’t put you back in the cage if you had sex with him?”

  “No!” Chr
istoffer resumed his pacing. Their roles had switched and now it was Mirela who was calm and asking questions while Christoffer struggled. “I don’t care that I’m in here, I don’t.”

  He’s lying.

  “I didn’t do it to get something. I did it because I wanted to. I wanted him. We went running. I led him through the forest and when we hit a field we ran side by side. I was full of,” he grimaced before spitting out, “joy. I was in the forest, running with my Alpha. When we stopped I was full of so many things I just…wanted to be with him.” Christoffer pounded his fists on his thighs. “I changed and kissed him. He pulled me away but then he pushed me to my knees. I would have settled for the kiss. He initiated the oral sex. I liked it, no, I loved it. I was there, on my knees before my Alpha, muscles still hot from the run, and he wanted to be close to me, valued me, trusted me. But when it was over…”

  Christoffer shook his head. “He pretended like it never happened. He closed himself away from me.”

  “Why would he do that?” Mirela asked, seating herself on his cot.

  “Because he doesn’t like other men.”

  “But he must if he had sex with you.”

  “Maybe deep down he does, but he doesn’t want to admit it. Maybe he doesn’t and it was just the power of the run.”

  Mirela nodded in understanding. There were times that her feelings after flying seemed too big to be contained within her body. The few times she did think about boys were usually while the pleasure-high of flight was still in her.

  “Either way, it’s the oldest story in the world.” Christoffer sat down beside her and draped a companionable arm over her shoulders. “Bi boy meets hot older straight man. Gives oral sex to straight man. Straight man pretends it didn’t happen and treats bi boy like crap to make himself feel better.”

  It was a lie to say she fully understood, but Mirela could hear his suffering. “I’m sorry he treated you that way.” She wrapped her arm around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder, some instinct telling her he needed the comfort of touch.