Bitten By Mistake (15 page)

“Need you naked,” Nathan whispered, his voice a low growl that made Jared’s belly clench.

“Yes, do it.” He clung tight to Nathan’s shoulders as Nathan turned and walked them back to the bed, only letting go when Nathan dropped him onto the quilt. “Hurry up.”

Nathan laughed, the sound muffled as he pulled his T-shirt over his head. “Trying.”

Jared scrabbled to get out of his clothes, kicking off his jeans and underwear in one piece and throwing his top halfway across the room in his haste to get it off. He grinned when it snagged on the door handle, but his smile froze in place when he caught sight of Nathan. A gloriously naked and perfectly formed Nathan.

He’d seen Nathan without clothes before but when all that bare skin was about to be pressed up against his own naked body, it was an entirely different story. Not to mention the hard cock jutting out in front of him and pointing at Jared with intent.

Jared swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry as Nathan climbed onto the bed. He crawled up and over Jared’s body, bracketing him with his arms. When Jared spread his legs wide enough for Nathan’s hips, Nathan settled between his thighs.

Nathan looked down at him, his dark blue eyes focused and full of heat. “I want to come on you.” He glanced down between their bodies and rolled his hips, and the head of his cock left a trail of wetness on Jared’s stomach.

It shouldn’t be that hot.

Jared had heard that phrase plenty of times before—shifters weren’t the only ones with a thing for it—but something about the way Nathan licked his lips, slow and predatory, made Jared’s heart race. Nathan’s eyes never left Jared’s, and the intensity in that gaze lit Jared up like a flare.

Nathan reached down and took them both in his hand, and Jared bucked his hips and thrust up into Nathan’s tight grip.

“Fuck.” Jared grabbed the back of Nathan’s head and pushed his face against his neck. “I need you to….” The bite mark throbbed under his skin, each beat of his heart sent an ache of longing so fierce that Jared cried out when Nathan finally put his mouth on it. “
Yeah
.”

Nathan licked and sucked at the tender skin, and Jared writhed under him. He felt lost, out of control. The only thing tethering him to earth at that moment was Nathan. Each stroke of his palm sent pleasure coursing through Jared’s veins, every lap of his tongue pushed him closer to the edge until he couldn’t hold back anymore. With a choked-off cry, Jared grabbed Nathan’s shoulders and dug his fingers in hard; his whole body tensed. His orgasm rushed through him, lighting up his senses with sounds and smells and the feel of Nathan’s cock pulsing alongside his own.

“Jesus Christ.” Jared felt dazed as he slowly recovered, his heart beating wildly. “That was….
Fucking hell
.”

Nathan’s soft laughter tickled the side of his neck, and Jared squirmed. “Pretty much.”

They lay in silence. Jared stared up at the ceiling, wondering what just happened. Nathan kept his face buried in the crook of Jared’s neck.

As his body calmed from the onslaught of sensation, Jared’s blissed-out state slowly morphed into one of confusion and unease. He’d never felt like that before, and he didn’t mean that as some cheesy romantic cliché. He’d literally never felt a pull so strong he wanted to take, and take, and take, not caring about the consequences.

A sliver of icy-cold fear worked its way under his skin.

Is the change affecting my body, my mind?

He’d fallen into bed so easily with Nathan, after years of avoiding shifters at all costs. And it had been mind-blowing.

Jared meant everything he said before, though. This would keep them safe, and he was all for that. Besides, Nathan really had started to grow on him, and he was hot—the sex wasn’t exactly a chore. It wouldn’t be the first time Jared had ended up having sex with someone he used to hate.

If all that was true, why did he feel so out of sorts? He’d just come, he should be dozing in the afterglow, not verging on a panic attack.

“Jared?” Nathan lifted off him and lay on his side, one hand resting on Jared’s stomach. “Everything okay?” He started to rub his fingers through the mess on Jared’s belly, massaging come into his skin.

Jared raised an eyebrow as he watched. “Is that really necessary?”

“Yes.” Nathan grinned. Jared got the feeling he was full of shit, but he didn’t call him on it. “You didn’t answer my question.”

He closed his eyes and scrubbed his hands through his hair, thinking how best to reply. “I feel…. I don’t know to describe it.”

Nathan’s hand stilled, and the firm weight of it was comforting, grounding enough for Jared to find his words. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but that was like an out-of-body experience.”

He expected to see smugness oozing from Nathan’s pores, but when he opened his eyes, Nathan regarded him with a serious expression.

“Go on.”

“At first it was like normal sex—hot, a little frantic, you know?” Nathan nodded, so Jared continued, focusing on Nathan’s fingers spread wide across his belly. “But then… then it was more. So much more. I wanted you to bite me. Every part of me wanted you to sink your teeth into my neck, so deep that I’d feel it forever. It was all-consuming, as though I’d die if I didn’t have your mouth on me. Is that normal?”

Nathan didn’t say anything, but he slid his hand to Jared’s hip and held on a little too tight. When Jared glanced at him, Nathan had his eyes shut tight and his jaw clenched. He was also hard.

Jared looked from Nathan’s pained expression, to his cock, and back again. “Um, you okay?”

“No,” Nathan gritted out. He clenched his fingers and Jared winced as they dug in. “Jesus, Jared, you can’t say things like that while we’re lying here naked and covered in come. Do you have any idea how difficult it is for me not to just pin you to the bed and fuck you?”

The evidence poked him in the thigh. “I have a fair idea, yes.”

“And thanks to the very graphic description of your feelings, the urge to bite you again is almost overwhelming.”

Now the haze of sex had left his brain, the idea of being bitten again wasn’t all that appealing. It had hurt enough the first time around, and Jared wasn’t in any hurry to repeat the process. He wanted to move Nathan’s hand and put a little distance between them, but he was frozen to the spot. “Is that the change making me feel like that? Is it affecting you?”

Much to Jared’s relief, Nathan sighed and rolled onto his back, covering his face with his hands. “I don’t know.”

Either lost in thought or falling asleep, Nathan didn’t move or speak for the next few minutes.

Jared held his tongue, waiting for him to say something else, until he couldn’t stand it any longer. “What the hell does that mean? You’re the one with all the experience of stuff like this.” He waved a hand at his throat and then at Nathan. “You’re the shifter. Does this sort of thing usually happen when you have sex with humans?”

“No.” Nathan dropped his hands and turned to face him. “But I’ve never done it with someone I’ve bitten. So I don’t fucking know.” He sighed again, his gaze searching out the bite mark and forcing an involuntary shiver out of Jared. “And it doesn’t help when you do things like that.”

“I can’t help it when you look at me like that. Stop it.”

Nathan groaned and closed his eyes. “I can’t. It’s like a magnet.”

“Jesus Christ, this is getting us nowhere. Let’s assume it’s a combination of the bite and whatever’s running rampant inside my body. There’s nothing we can do about it, so let’s just pretend I didn’t beg you to bite me.”

“Okay.”

Nathan didn’t say it, but Jared caught him glancing down the length of his naked body, the “until next time” left unspoken between them. Jared doubted very much it was a one-time-only occurrence, and he didn’t much care for the thrill that rushed through at the prospect.

“Okay. I don’t think lying around like this is conducive to meaningful conversation, and I have a lot of questions for you.” Drying come covered his belly, and Jared scratched at it with a frown. “Can I go shower this off? I don’t need to walk around like this, do I?”

Nathan scoffed. “Of course not. It’s done its job.” His fingers twitched as though he wanted to reach out and touch the evidence, but he rolled to the side and sat up. “Go and shower. I have a few things to sort out for work tomorrow. Then I’ll go in after you.”

Jared nodded. Getting clean and dressed sounded perfect. He needed to put some space between them after… well, whatever the hell just happened. Reaching up, he stroked a fingertip over the smooth skin of his neck. The spot felt unblemished to his touch, but the bite mark was under there somewhere. It pulsed gently under his fingers, reminding him of what it had been like when Nathan—

“Jared!”

Jared snapped his gaze to where Nathan stood glaring at him. “What?”

Nathan gestured to Jared’s other hand.

“Oh.” Jared stared down at himself, surprised to realise that not only was he stroking his neck and the base of his throat, but he had a hold of his cock too.

For fuck’s sake.

He was hard, and although he stopped stroking himself immediately, he didn’t want to. He wanted to grab Nathan and wrestle him back onto the bed. What the hell was wrong with him? “I don’t think we should have fucked around.”

“Yeah.” Nathan’s gaze stayed fixedly at Jared’s feet, as though he daren’t look anywhere else. “Something’s changed.”

“No shit.” Jared’s cock throbbed in time with the bite mark. He swallowed down the lump in his throat. “It’s happening again.”

“What do you mean?” Nathan’s voice came out rough, like he’d swallowed sandpaper, and he backed away until he was pressed up against the wall next to the bed.

Jared stared at him incredulously. “You know what I mean. Don’t be an arse.”

The tension in the room built steadily around them, so thick and heavy Jared could almost taste it. It clung to his skin, setting his nerves alight and leaving him breathless. He needed to leave, or his body would take over like it had before. Jared didn’t want to go for round two while his control slipped away from him, and he forced his feet to move, taking him closer to the door. “I’m going to shower.”

Nathan had his eyes closed, his body rigid. “Hurry.”

Jared raced across to the bathroom, and locked the door behind him.

As soon as Nathan was no longer in the same room, the connection, or whatever it was, severed abruptly, leaving Jared slumped against the bathroom door, breathing heavily. He took a moment to let his heart rate slow, refusing to think about what had just happened. Then he got under the shower. With his head down and the water pouring over him, some semblance of calm washed over him at last. His head cleared, and whatever pull he felt towards Nathan had disappeared.

Thank God.

Jared’s hard-on remained and showed no signs of flagging anytime soon. He was reluctant to touch it, lest he start the whole thing up again, but going back out there with a raging boner was out of the question too. Maybe if he was quick and thought of someone else while he did it…. He pictured the blond hair and green eyes of the last guy he’d been with, the total opposite to Nathan. As he imagined the guy on his knees, mouth open, Jared wrapped a hand around himself and started to stroke.

With his attention split between the image in his mind and the hand on his cock, Jared’s concentration slipped. Soon enough it was Nathan staring up at him, all blue eyes and heated gaze. Jared fisted his cock, desperately chasing release as imaginary Nathan opened his mouth wide and licked his lips.

Jared’s orgasm hit him hard, but his mind remained clear—no loss of control this time—and the bite mark was no more than a dull ache under his skin.

He let out a harsh breath, followed by relieved laughter. Good to know he could still do that without any dire consequences.

CHAPTER TEN

Nathan sat with his head in his hands as Jared took his time in the shower. He couldn’t hear or smell anything, but he had a fair idea what was taking Jared so long. The thought sent a wave of heat through him, settling in his groin where his cock sat hard inside the boxer briefs he’d pulled on. The urge to bite had waned, thank God, but Nathan still wanted to pin Jared down and fuck him.

Not for the first time, he wished he’d paid more attention when his parents had tried to talk to him about pack structure and lore. A lot of it had been boring. All Nathan had needed to know was what he could do and what would get him in trouble. Learning about extending the pack, common myths and misconceptions, or whatever his mother had called it had never held his interest for long. He was pretty sure biting a human had probably been covered somewhere, but since he’d had no intention of doing that, he hadn’t bothered to listen.

Pack law and human law were different. Nathan took in every word, not wanting to be on the wrong end of either. But what was happening between him and Jared he had no idea about, and no one he could ask without raising suspicion.

The door opened with a
snick
, and a wet, relaxed-looking Jared sauntered in. Nathan was up and out of the room before he had chance to fixate on the wet shine of Jared’s body and the way the towel pulled tight across his hips.

The shower smelled of Jared and what he’d obviously done in there. Nathan breathed it in, greedily sucking in air until it filled his lungs. He stepped under the spray and didn’t hesitate to grab his own hard length and bring himself off in a staggeringly short time. With a soft moan, he came over the shower wall, one hand braced against the tile. The water washed everything away, including the haze his mind had been in since Jared had urged Nathan to bite him again.

Clear-headed, Nathan dried off and stepped out of the bathroom, praying that things were back to normal between them. The wolf inside him had never scared him before. Even changing into the monstrous half-shift didn’t take away his control, but for a moment there in the bedroom, Nathan had struggled to keep his instincts in check. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling. If he let go and the beast inside took over, Jared would be powerless to stop him.