INCONCEIVABLE

Book Two of the Tate Pack Series
by
Vicktor Alexander
For Daniel, who was able to look past the outward appearance to see the man within.
And still love him anyway.

COPYRIGHT 2011 BY VICKTOR

ALEXANDER. NO PART OF THIS BOOK

MAY BE COPIED, DISTRIBUTED OR SOLD

WITHOUT PERMISSION GIVEN BY THE

AUTHOR. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Thank you to Luci who got SO excited about the
character of Tommy being a cross-dresser, which
is why I just had to put her in the book.

To Cherie who constantly pushes me to be better with every edit. My big brother Damon whose own excellence propels me to get better and to my Dad who encourages me every step of the way.

And for Matt who is one of the greatest little brothers I could ask for. Between you, Thorny, Kat and Lucy, I am the most supported and loved Big Brother in the world.

Dedicated to: Lady Gaga whose songs “Edge of Glory” and “You and I” set the backdrop not only for this book but for my life this year.

TRADEMARK ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

Home Depot
Stetson
Wrangler
Lady Gaga
“Edge of Glory” by Lady Gaga

PROLOGUE

“It doesn’t really matter to me who you think

we are to each other Ton, I just…I don’t think I can

handle the whole wolf shifter thing. I’m not going

to tellanyone, I mean it’s not like anyone would

believe me even if I did, but I wouldn’t do that to

you, or Richard and Vet or the triplets. I mean, I’d

be a god-awful person if I did that you know? So

I’m not gonna open my mouth, but I’m not gonna

stay either…” Those words haunted Ton, playing through his

mind over and over again as he sped down the road

towards Tommy, his mate, the only man who he

knew was made for him, who wouldn’t just see a

huge cowboy, but would see the man underneath it

all. Tommy saw him and even more than that, he

saw Tommy. Not “Tammy Walks” like everyone

else, Ton saw Tommy for who he really was and he

wasn’t about to just let that go. Tommy was his,

predestined for him by the fates, the gods, the

elements, hell if he knew where wolf shifters

actually came from or who it was that decided who

should be with whom, all he knew was that he was

supposed to be with Tommy. The smaller man’s smell called to him, drew him in, wrapped around

him like an embrace and then squeezed him until

he almost passed out from sheer desire alone.

You just don’t run into people that make you

feel like that every day and when you do run into

someone that makes you feel that way, you don’t

let them go, no matter what their plans were.

Ton laughed in the interior of his truck, his eyes

narrowing as he took in his surroundings. Richard

had told him where to go, had told him that it was

a Friday night and Tommy would be working. In a

club. In a drag club. As the head performer. As

Tammy. Ton remembered the firsttime that he’d seen

Tommy when he’d gone to pick the other man up

from the airport. The first thing that he’d noticed

was how…small, Tommy was. How almost dainty

he was. Then he’d seen Tommy turn around and

berate a huge biker who had called him a “fag” and

Ton found himself admiring the appearance of

spitfire. Oh, he’d be honest and say that his first

thought was to spend the entire time Tommy was

visiting, fucking the man through the

mattress…and the wall…and the floor…hell,

through the fucking barn at the Tate Pack Ranch if

he’d had to. Tommy was a fucking walking

orgasm, with a capital O, and Ton had been all too ready to take that step.

Then he’d noticed Tommy’s smell, his scent

and he’d known. That man, the one that was

walking towards him in the tight pair of jean pants,

black, fashion boots, because they weren’t working

boots with their fancy design and heels, and a

green silk shirt tied above his belly button, his long

black hair swirling around his shoulders, was his.

Tommy was the man chosen for him by the fates.

They were meant for each other.

They’d had a great time together while Tommy

had been visiting but then Ton had shifted in front

of Tommy and the other man had passed out. When he’d come to things hadn’t been the same

after that. Until finally, Tommy had told him that

he was leaving…permanently. Not only was he

leaving, he wasn’t coming back…and that he

didn’t want Ton to follow him.

Too bad for Tommy, Ton didn’t take orders

from anyone but his Alpha and his Alpha had sent

him to get hismate. Apparently Vet hadn’t bought

his explanation for why Tommy was really gone.

So Ton had left and as he pulled into the

parking lot of the Illicit Rendezvous, he was glad

that he did. Tommy belonged to him and only him

and Tommy’s place was at Ton’s side. It was Ton’s job to make sure that Tommy knew that and that he

was there. He wasn’t leaving New York unless he

had Tommy with him.

Plain and simple.

“There ain’t a reason you and me should be alone, tonight yeah baby, tonight yeah baby…I want to run with you, to the edge with you, where we can both fall more in love. I’m on the edge of glory.”

CHAPTER ONE

"I'm on the edge, the edge, the edge, the edge,

the edge, the edge, THE EDGE. I'm on the edge!"

Tommy sang along with Lady Gaga as he lined his

eyes with black eyeliner and put on his

mascara. Tilting his head to the side, he let his

long, wavy, black hair fall to the side and smiled at

his reflection. Puckering his lips he blew a kiss to

himself and turned to grab his bag from the toilet

seat before leaving the bathroom. Turning off the

light and his iPod, he opened the door and stepped

into his bedroom. He was ready to go out tonight. He needed to find himself a big, strong,

SANE man who didn't turn into a fucking

werewolf and get laid. Whistling, he adjusted his

bra inserts and then screamed loudly. Sitting on

his bed was the one man he was trying so hard to

forget.

"TON! What the HELL are you doing here?"

he yelled out at the overgrown cowboy who sat

with his hands resting on the bed behind him and

his long, muscled legs stretched before him and

crossed at the ankles. Tommy swallowed thickly

and let his eyes peruse the Texan that lay before

him. Ton was a big man...no, scratch that, Ton

was a HUGE man. Named Anton Forrester, the man who stood at 6'7" and weighed about 240 lbs

looked like a walking tank, his own black hair was

cut extremely short, in the military style, his body

was almost like one huge muscle. Tommy

couldn't stop the whimper from escaping his

lips. He'd been hot and horny for Ton's body since

the day he'd met him. Tommy groaned as he felt

his cock start to thicken. Hissing in pain, he

turned and hurried back into the bathroom before

Ton had a chance to reply, to free himself from the

tucking he'd done to appear like a

woman. Groaning at the feel of his cock enlarging

fully, freed from its tight confinement, he

wondered why in the world Ton was there and how in the hell he'd gotten into his apartment. At that

thought he turned and yanked open his bathroom

door, unaware that the tight blue silk dress he'd put

on was bunched around his waist, his cock

displayed proudly.

"How did you get in my apartment?" he hissed

out as he glared at Ton. The bigger man merely

smirked before standing to his full height and

walking towards him. He stopped once he stood

directly in front of Tommy, looming over him and

without answering, grabbed Tommy's erection and

began to stroke it.

"I fought in a battle back in Texas, trying to

keep Vet alive and keep Richard and those triplets safe and when I survived it I asked myself what

would I have regretted if I had died?" Ton began

speaking, his deeply rich voice washed over

Tommy and lengthened his erection even

more. He groaned as Ton twisted his hand over

the top of his cock before stroking it back

down. "I realized that I would regret not coming

after you. Just letting you leave me and run away

like that. You're my mate Tommy. I know you

know what that means, I explained it to you. But

just in case you need to hear it again, that means

that you belong to me. You're mine. You hear

me? You don't get to leave me. You don't get to

run away back to New York because you don't understand something or because something

frightens you. You're mine. This here," Ton

stated, squeezing Tommy's dick which was leaking

pre-cum, "this belongs to me." Ton reached

around Tommy's waist and squeezed his ass, "And

this? This ass is mine too." Without hesitation,

Ton spun Tommy around to face the bathroom sink

and pushed him forward slightly until his bubble

butt stuck out further. The cowboy groaned.

"I ain't giving you up without a fight. I was

planning on telling your landlord that you were my

cousin and that the family had sent me out to stay

with you for a few days but that I thought you

might be at work and I just wanted to check but turns out, your landlord is a wolf shifter too. All I

had to tell him was that you were my mate and he

let me right on in. I heard you in the shower so I

waited and I'm glad I did," Ton leaned over to

speak into Tommy's ear and he shivered. He

couldn't believe that the Texan had flown all the

way to New York, dealt with traffic and navigating

through Greenwich Village, just to find him. He

couldn't believe he was here and he couldn't

believe that he was sucking and nibbling on his

ear, his neck and his shoulder.

"I just don't think I'm really who you need

Ton," Tommy's breath stuttered out of his chest. "I

mean, I understand that your pack or your family is understanding about the gay thing, but I'm a

cross-dresser also. I like to dress in drag. In

women's clothing," Tommy pointed out, hoping

that Ton would leave after that. The other man

just shrugged.

"And your point?" Ton asked as he pulled

Tommy's dress over his head and dragged his

tongue down the smaller man's spine to the globes

of his delicious ass.

"Some people may have a problem with that,"

Tommy pointed out, gasping when he felt Ton bite

one cheek and then the other before kissing both.

"Well then, fuck them. I don't need their

permission to mate you. Their approval means nothing. The only people whose opinions matter

outside of yours and mine is Alpha Vet and Alpha

Mate Richard and both of them are fine with

it. Ecstatic even. So let's get to the root of all of

your problems," Ton rationalized as he dragged his

tongue down the crack of the smaller man's ass as

his hands held the cheeks apart.

Tommy groaned as he felt the tip of Ton's

tongue flickering his taint and then gasped when

that tongue traveled up and pressed lightly into his

tight entrance.

"Shit almighty!" Tommy moaned as he pressed

his ass further back. He jumped lightly as Ton

smacked one side of his ass. "No moving until you answer my

question. What are you really afraid of? Are you

scared I'm going to eat you?" Ton asked before

returning his lips and tongue to his warm channel.

"No! I'm not scared you're going to eat me!"

Tommy gasped, his mind turning to mush beneath

the onslaught of Ton's oral attack on his body. His

body jerked when Ton jerked him back firmly on

his tongue, one hand pulling the left cheek of his

ass to the side while the other hand reached around

to stroke his cock. He was in heaven. He felt his

orgasm approaching quickly and then whined

when he felt Ton pull away from him. He was

turned again and felt himself looking up, up, up into his cowboy's eyes. His cowboy had the most

beautiful blue eyes ever and Tommy felt himself

sinking into his gaze.

"C'mon baby. My beautiful, beautiful little

man, tell me why you ran from me. Was it really

the wolf shifting thing?" Ton asked and Tommy

heard the sadness and confusion in his tone and

knew that he had to be honest, both with Anton

and with himself.

He shook his head no and sucked his bottom

lip in between his teeth. "What if you mate me

and then you meet someone that you want

more? Someone who isn't as big a freak as I

am? What if I give up my life here like Richard did and move out to Texas with you and then you

change your mind? What if I'm not enough for

you?"

Tommy gasped as he felt himself lifted into

Ton's arms and carried back into the bedroom

without another word being spoken. He was laid

down on the purple duvet and opened his mouth to

ask Ton what he thought about what he'd just

admitted to when the larger man leaned over him

and took his lips in a deep kiss. He moaned. It

had been way too long since he'd tasted

Ton. They'd kissed a few times when he'd been in

Texas and each time had been more amazing than

the one before but this time? This time he felt like he was coming home. He felt as if his heart and

his soul were righting themselves within him,

finally coming alive. He felt whole and complete.

He groaned again as Ton rubbed one finger

around his puckered entrance before slowly

pushing inside of him. He lifted his hips and

pushed his head back into his pillow, Ton's name

on his lips.

"Mmm, that's right baby. Feel me. You're

mine. Give it to me. I want it all," Ton rasped in

his ear before moving his lips down Tommy's

chest, blowing air over his groin and then taking

the smaller man's very erect cock into his mouth at

the same moment he pushed in a second finger. Tommy's orgasm took him by surprise and he

came thickly down Ton's throat and panted out the

larger man's name. His body trembled as he felt

Ton continued sucking him his now softening

cock, his fingers still thrusting inside of his still

clenching channel.

"Oh. My. God," he breathed and heard Ton

chuckle. The bigger man pulled out his fingers

slowly and crawled over him.

"You're perfect for me baby. That's why fate

gave you to me. Now that you know that, no more

running. You're coming home with me to

Texas...where you belong," Ton stated gruffly and

Tommy could do nothing but nod. He could only hope that Ton was right and that the cowboy

wouldn't regret bringing him back to Texas.

CHAPTER TWO

It is sometimes the biggest accomplishment in the
world to just be you.-Kate Blackwell

Ton turned to look at his mate as the smaller

man flittered around the room packing everything

that he owned up into expensive looking suitcases,

trunks, and overpriced bags. Tommy seemed to

have more stuff than Richard did. He was glad

that he'd decided to rent a U-Haul to drive back to

Texas rather than taking a plane. They would be

paying so much more that way. He sighed when

Tommy stopped in the middle of the room and gasped. He knew what that gasp meant, he'd

heard it enough in the last three hours. It meant

that Tommy had remembered something else that

he wanted to take with him. He could only hope

that it was something that he already had so that

they could leave it behind.

"What about my dishes? My pots, pans, my

blender, mixers, food processors....I love to cook

Ant...I can't leave them behind!" Tommy whined

slightly and Ton cringed even while a warmth

bloomed within him at Tommy's nickname for

him. He nodded and then chuckled as Tommy

hugged him excitedly before he raced towards the

kitchen to pack it up. His mate was beyond adorable, full of energy and life. Always bubbly

and bouncy...it was slightly exhausting. He

exhaled and shook his head. He was fated to be

married to the petite ball of energy. That wasn't a

fluke, so it was obviously for a reason. Maybe he

needed to be more bouncy? More excitable? He

shook his head as he carried the last four suitcases

into the living room and placed them on the

floor. Who was he kidding? He was who he was,

that wasn't going to change just because his mate

was a little ball of energy.

Ton turned and walked into his mate's kitchen

and stopped. When he'd come in the night before

he'd followed his mate's scent back to the bedroom and waited. He hadn't paid any attention to any

other rooms. He was glad he hadn't. Tommy's

kitchen looked like a gourmet kitchen. Ton looked

around the large space in awe. His man hadn't

been kidding when he'd said he loved to cook. He

thought about his kitchen and cringed. He'd

moved into the foreman's house out behind the

alpha house. When Vet had lived there the house

was clean, well...according to his standards. Now,

it looked like a big mess. Like a tornado had

blown through and left mass destruction in its

wake. Tommy's place was extremely clean. He

wondered if he was going to pester him like

Richard pestered Vet. "My kitchen don't look like this," he admitted

and saw Tommy turn to look at him and smile.

"That's okay. Is it this big or smaller?" the

smaller man asked as he opened his refrigerator

and began to clean it out.

"It's a little smaller. Alpha Vernon didn't really

have cause to use it. His sister Mandy used to

cook up at the alpha house all the time. Now he's

living in the alpha house and Richard cooks for

him there," he stated as he walked over to help.

Tommy snorted and Ton looked over at

him. "What?" he asked with a smile on his face.

"Richard is a better baker than a cook, but even

that is very novice. He doesn't cook, he follows directions. A real cook, a chef, when they are

making a meal, they are creating an

experience. They are creating art and a

masterpiece. I love Richard, he is one of my best

friends, but he is a much better dancer than a

cook," Tommy shrugged and grinned

sheepishly. "I've told him this before so no need

to worry that I'm being disrespectful."

Ton nodded and grinned. His mate was a little

spitfire when it came to cooking and he knew he

was passionate in the bedroom. He wondered

where else the smaller man would prove to be

passionate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Four hours later the two men were finally on

the road heading towards Texas. Tommy's

furniture was much nicer than what Ton had in his

small three bedroom foreman's house back on the

ranch so they'd decided to pack and bring most of

it. Ton still couldn't believe how much stuff his

mate had. He tried to figure out how they were

going to fit it all in their small home when he

realized that Tommy was bouncing in his

seat. They'd been driving steadily for about eight

hours, his wolf genes making him able to drive a

lot longer without getting tired, and he hadn't

stopped once. They had snacks, drinks, and Tommy had made a few small meals for them

before they'd left. So they'd been able to eat, drink

and best of all get to know each other a lot

better. While he knew that he could go another

two hours without having to stop and use the

bathroom, his very human mate wouldn't be able to

do that. Especially since he'd watched as the

smaller man had done some really intricate

movements in order for his cock to not show from

the front or the back. He'd winced and whined

and grabbed his own large cock in consolation, but

Tommy had just grinned at him.

"I don't do it all the time. The tucking

thing. Just when I'm wearing tight pants or a short dress," the smaller man had explained before

pulling on a plaid skirt that fell mid thigh and

pulled down his white spaghetti strap shirt over the

bra he wore with the inserts placed inside. His

hair had been curled in tight black ringlets below

his shoulders and he'd lined his eyes, put on

mascara and put on the shiniest red lipstick he'd

ever seen. He'd nodded but he'd walked funny for

a while afterwards.

Now he looked over at his mate in sympathy,

"Do you need to stop and use the restroom?" he

asked. Tommy bit his lip and nodded. He grinned

and pulled off at the next exit towards the rest

area. Pulling into a parking space. He chuckled when Tommy opened the door and hurried towards

the male restrooms before the truck had come to a

complete stop. Turning off the UHAUL, he

opened the door and stepped down. Whistling, he

locked both doors and walked towards the vending

machines, as he got closer he heard the sounds of

grunting and flesh hitting flesh. He smirked. It

sounded as if there was a couple out there who was

making good use of the relatively vacant rest

area. He couldn't wait to ask Tommy if he'd

noticed who the couple was. No sooner had that

thought occurred than the strong, pungent, coppery

smell of blood wafted up to his nostrils...his mate's

blood. That wasn't the sound of sex he'd heard, that was the sound of someone attacking his

mate. Without a thought for keeping his identity

hidden to humans, he ripped his clothes from his

body and allowed the shift to come over him,

calling forth his wolf.

His wolf was massively huge and black, he

was bigger than the alpha, although the alpha was

stronger in his wolf form than he was, which was

as it should be. Without another thought, he shook

to be sure all of him had shifted completely and

with a loud, menacing growl he raced towards the

men's restrooms and his mate. What he saw when

he entered stopped his blood cold and then filled

his veins with rage. His mate was curled on the floor, his clothes ripped, his face badly beaten, his

makeup smeared, his cock hanging limply, his

torso covered in bruises, his ripped skirt in the

corner, the cute red heels were being held in his

attackers's hands as they raised them to continue

with his beating.

Ton growled low in his throat. His mate was

hurt, he could hear his heartbeat, which meant that

he was alive, which is the only reason he wouldn't

be killing these assholes, but they were going to

wish he had. He grinned ferociously when all

three men screamed. They were all the spitting

image of snobby, preppy rich kid. All of them

wearing their khaki pants, loafers, button down shirts, and even their sweaters were tied around

their necks. Ton didn't care about that, or the fact

that their hair was still so immaculately

groomed. He wanted their blood and he wanted it

now. He leaped forward and grabbed one guy, the

head guy he'd assume by his actions, his jaws

clamping down on his arm and jerking back. He

howled in satisfaction when the arm broke and the

bone punctured the skin. He refused to swallow

the bastard's blood and spit out the small amount

that had dribbled in his mouth. His wolf was large

enough to prevent the other men from leaving and

in a few seconds all three men were unconscious

and bleeding on the floor profusely. Shifting back he hurried over to his mate and with a whimper

picked up the smaller man in his arms. He walked

around the room, collecting Tommy's clothes and

shoes, before hurrying out of the

bathroom. Looking around the wall that made up

the entrance to the restroom, he saw that the area

was still deserted and his clothes were still where

he left them. He scooped them up and jerked the

keys out of the pockets and rushed to the UHAUL

truck. Opening the door he placed Tommy gently

in the seat and quickly pulled on his pants before

climbing inside the vehicle.

Buckling in his mate, he started the truck and

backed the vehicle out of the space, before driving out of the rest area quickly. He had to find a hotel,

a nice hotel, and quickly. He needed to get his

mate to a hot bath and a bed so he could assess his

injuries. He'd just found this man, this special

man. His man. He wasn't going to let him go

now.

CHAPTER THREE

Tommy woke up to pain. Excruciating, blinding,

heart-stopping, breath-stealing pain. For a

moment it was all he could think about. The pain

started at his head and worked all the way down

his....what the fuck? Did his dick hurt too? He

groaned and realized at that point that there were other people in the room with him. The extremely

deep voice of a man, the sexiest voice he'd ever

heard, and a lighter, softer, more melodious sound

of a woman. Maybe they were the doctor and the

nurse? Maybe he was in the hospital? That

would make sense if he was run over by a Mac

truck like he felt.

"Baby? Did you make a noise? Please baby,

respond...say something," he heard the man say

and his heart pounded in his chest. Baby? Why

was this man calling him baby? That seemed a

little inappropriate coming from his doctor. He

struggled to remember what had happened to him,

where he was, who this man could be....he remembered....getting ready to move in with

someone....a man, a big man....Anton! Anton

Forrester, the wolf shifter....oh yeah, they were on

the road, they'd made it all the way to Virginia and

then....he gasped as he remembered walking into

the restroom. He began thrashing on the bed,

moaning and screaming as he relived the horror of

his attack.

"No! No! No!!" he screamed, tears rolling

down his face, his mouth open and gasping for air,

his arms and his legs thrashing about wildly as he

tried to fight off his invisible attackers.

"Tommy! Baby! Wake up! You're safe. I'm

here, they're gone. I promise. C'mon baby, please open your eyes, please," he heard the man

say and instantly soothed. His eyes popped open

and he sat up quickly in pain, wincing in

agony. He looked around the room wildly and he

saw Ton sitting on the bed next to him, his hands

clutching his shoulders. He threw himself into the

bigger man's arms, uncaring of his injuries,

unmindful of his appearance.

"Oh god Ant!" he cried as he clutched the other

man's shirt desperately, scrambling to climb up

into the cowboy's lap. He heard the other man

making shushing noises in an effort to calm him

and felt Ton's hands hold onto him firmly. When

another, more slender hand touched his back before rubbing his hair he stiffened and jerked

away.

"Tommy! Baby! It's okay. It's just my sister,

Luci. She's a doctor, I called her and asked her to

meet us here, to help you!" Ton stated frantically.

Tommy looked over at the woman and

assessed her. She stood at his height, with long

brown hair that fell to the middle of her back, a

small pert nose, pink lips, a delicate almost

disarming frame of body, with curves in all the

right places, and as his eyes traveled back up he

saw her eyes, her startling blue eyes. Those eyes,

filled with kindness, sadness for what he'd been

through, anger at his attackers, sympathy for his anguish, and concern over his injuries, filled him

with peace and he calmed instantly. He heard Ton

chuckle and looked over at him, much more calm

and serene, more aware of his surroundings than

he had been upon first waking.

"Luci is an omega. She has this ability to

make people feel at ease and at peace. It's sort of a

special...gift she has. I haven't seen her use it on a

human in a while," Ton explained and Tommy

nodded. So Luci was a wolf shifter too.

"Are they dead?" he asked, his voice devoid of

emotion, raspy from screaming. He saw Ton and

Luci exchange looks before Ton answered him.

"No, they're not. They were injured pretty bad though, had to be put into the hospital, both for

their injuries and because they said they saw the

wolf that attacked them turn into a human before

he picked up the other man in the bathroom, the

one that they'd beat up," the Texan growled.

Tommy's eyebrows lifted in amazement, "They

confessed to beating me up?"

"In their confusion and hysteria, yeah, they

did," Ton said with a smile. Tommy merely

nodded again and looked around the room, before

his eyes landed on the pamphlet on the table.

"Mississippi?" he read aloud and looked over

at Ton. "We're in Mississippi?"

Ton nodded and swallowed thickly. "I tried to nurse you myself, but you were getting

worse. You wouldn't wake up, I wasn't sure if you

were even alive. I took you to the hospital, but

they wanted to keep you overnight and wouldn't let

me see you. So I sneaked out with you and kept

driving. My sister was visiting a friend of hers

here in Mississippi so we just met up here so she

could care for you."

Tommy looked over at Luci who merely

smiled at him before answering, "I stitched you up,

gave you a shot for the pain, wrapped your ribs,

your wrist, your ankle. I even had to bandage

your head for a while."

Tommy's hands flew to his hair and began to run through his curls frantically. Ton grasped his

hands and pulled them down. "Don't worry,

nothing was shaved or anything," he reassured

him. Tommy breathed a sigh of relief and crawled

back up into the big wolf's lap before reaching out

a hand to Luci.

"Thank you so much," he said to her with a

small smile. He breathed a sigh of relief and felt

exhaustion sweep back over him, he tried to fight

against it, wanting the chance to get to know Luci

but more than that, wanting to spend time with his

wolf, his hero, his mate. The thought of being

Ton's mate didn't scare him as much

anymore. He'd survived a horrific attack because of this man, his man. An attack he received

because people couldn't accept the fact that

everyone is different, and that which they saw as

being socially normal was actually humanly

abnormal. Differences were what made up the

human race, similarities were what made up drones

and clones.

"Get some sleep baby, we'll still be here when

you wake up," he heard Ton's voice say and

without another thought, he drifted off to sleep.

CHAPTER FOUR

Ton looked down at his sleeping mate before

looking over at his sister Luci. The two of them

shared a smile before he placed the smaller man

back down on the bed and covered him with a

sheet. He sighed as he brushed back the hair on

his mate's forehead.

"You love him already don't you?" he heard

Luci's voice as she stood and began to walk

towards the suite's kitchen. He snorted at the

thought. Tommy was his mate yes, and he was wildly attracted to him, they were even able to

speak with ease and they had a lot in common but

he wasn't in love with the man. He didn't even

believe that he was capable of the emotion. He

was too possessive, to aggressive and too

domineering to ever be able to love someone as

sweet and as beautiful as Tommy.

"I don't even know what that word means," he

replied back to Luci, before rising from the bed

and joining her in the kitchen area.

"You love me don't you? I mean you raised

me after Mom and Dad died and you were 18 and I

was only 10. You did a pretty decent job

too. And you didn't have to raise me," she reminded him and Ton felt his chest tighten and his

throat close up with emotion. He'd barely been an

adult himself when his parents had died in that car

accident. Wolf shifters weren't immortal, they

lived longer and it was harder to kill them, but they

weren't immortal by any stretch of the

imagination. Ton had been preparing to take off

and work on a ranch in Montana while trying to be

a bull rider. His parents hadn't wanted him to go

and they'd had a terrible argument, he'd stormed

out of the house and took off on his

motorcycle. He hadn't gone home that night,

choosing instead to sleep over at Alex's

house. Although he and Alex hadn't really slept. Both of them had been enjoying their

new-found sexuality and they'd spent the entire

night have hot sex, so they were both passed out

asleep when the phone call came in the next

moment about Ton's parents. He'd been so

disoriented that it had taken him a while to

understand that his parents were both dead, killed

on impact because neither of them had been

wearing their seat belts, and his baby sister was

now an orphan and would be moved to one of the

other families in the pack if he didn't step up to

take care of her. He knew he didn't have a

choice. His guilt over his last words to his parents

still haunted him today. "I had to take care of you, no one else could

put up with your annoying personality," he teased

Luci, bumping her lightly with his hip.

"Shut up Metric Ton," she teased back, using

her nickname for him from when they were kids.

He growled playfully, "Don't let Tommy hear

you use that name!" he admonished her with a

grin. The siblings laughed and then went about

preparing a meal. Ton had gone out to buy

groceries earlier, while Luci watched over

Tommy. Leaving his injured mate behind was the

hardest thing he'd ever done.

"You know your mate and I are going to be

best friends right?" Luci stated cheekily as she dumped chunks of tomatoes on top of the

salad. Ton snorted as he removed the grilled

chicken breast from the George Foreman grill.

"I have no doubt about it, it's just the way fate

works," he grunted. They finished lunch and

carried the plates over to the small dining

table. Ton turned to wake up Tommy only to find

the smaller man awake and sitting up in bed.

"Hey baby, how are you feeling?" he asked as

he walked over to help the other man out of the

bed.

"Sore. In pain. Hungry and like I have to take

the world's biggest piss ever," Tommy grumbled

before giving Ton a small smile. "You know if you had already mated and

marked him, he'd be healed by now," Luci stated as

she filled their glasses with iced tea. Ton groaned

internally when Tommy froze in place and looked

up at him.

"I could be healed already?" he whispered and

Ton nodded. He watched as Tommy's face turned

red and knew without even scenting the air that his

mate was angry.

"Are you getting off on me being in pain or

something? Is this some sort of wolf, predator,

mate thing? You LIKE seeing me in pain and

barely able to walk or move on my own? Is that

why you didn't do something to FUCKING HEAL ME ALREADY?!" Tommy yelled, poking the

bigger man in the chest.

"You don't understand Tommy," Ton sighed,

struggling to contain his wolf which was howling

at the aggression being displayed by his mate and

wanting desperately to make the smaller man

submit to him.

"So fucking explain it to me," Tommy panted

out as he leaned against the wall, his strength

rapidly deteriorating.

"In order for me to mate and mark you, we

would have to be having sex and I am not going to

have sex with you when you can barely walk,

barely move, barely breathe! I have too much respect for you to do that. You are my mate and I

will take care of you, protect you, even if it means

that I have to protect you from myself and not

claim you or mark you until you feel a little

better," Ton gritted out between clenched teeth.

Tommy huffed and Ton stepped closer to the

smaller man and lowered his voice so that his

sister couldn't hear, "Nothing would make me

happier than to claim you beautiful, nothing. Not

just because you would get better and heal quicker

but because I want to mark you as mine for all the

world to see, but I will not give into my wolf, I

will not be an animal and make love to you when

you'd be in too much pain to appreciate it. When you start feel better, however," Ton lifted his hand

to Tommy's chin and lifted the other man's face

until his eyes met Ton's passionate gaze, "nothing

in this world will stop me from claiming you and

marking you as mine."

Ton was surprised but pleased with the scent of

his mate's arousal wafted up to his nostrils, he

closed his eyes as he inhaled deeply. "Fuck but

you smell good," he groaned before giving himself

a mental shake. He looked back down at his mate

who now had a small smirk on his face. "Let's get

you to the bathroom and then have us some

dinner. I believe my sister wants to become best

friends with you and Luci always gets what she wants," he grinned before scooping the smaller

man into his arms and heading towards the

bathroom without another word.

CHAPTER FIVE

"And then I turned around and he was standing

right there with his arms folded across his chest,

looking all huge and intimidating and I could feel

my boyfriend trembling beneath me, his cock

shriveling up inside of me like a raisin before he

slid out and I just got so mad. So I slide off the

bed, turn around to face him, put my hands on my

hips and say: 'Why don't you find your own

boyfriend METRIC TON!' He was so shocked by

the new nickname, he didn't even notice my boyfriend, grabbing his clothes and climbing out of

the window, the same way he'd climbed in...except

this time he was doing it naked," Tommy burst into

laughter as Luci regaled him with the story of how

she'd come to call Ton, "Metric Ton." He noticed

Ton wincing and he laughed even harder. Luci

had been telling stories about Ton during the entire

meal and Tommy couldn't remember the last time

that he'd laughed so hard. It was great and he felt

himself healing with every story.

He had used the bathroom without Ton's

assistance and had spent the entire time thinking

about his mate and the fact that the other man had

rather watch him suffer than mate him and heal him. When his reason had finally returned he

realized that he should be thankful that the other

man had respected him enough to NOT take

advantage of him in his injured state. He'd

stepped out of the bathroom gingerly, after

flushing and washing his hands and had smiled

shyly up at the larger man. Ton must have read his

forgiveness and understanding in his eyes because

without a word being spoken the larger man had

come over, scooped him up into his arms and

carried him over to the dining table to eat. They

were still there. Tommy had finished eating half

an hour ago and Luci had finished five minutes

ago, but Ton was still eating. Damn, he hoped that they had a big refrigerator in their new home,

because his mate ate like a huge, fucking animal.

Tommy snorted in an effort to restrain his

laughter. He merely shook his head when Ton and

Luci looked at him questioningly, not wanting to

share his amusement with them, concerned that

they may take offense. He yawned widely and

nodded when Luci asked him if he wanted a cup of

water. As soon as Luci walked away he leaned

over and kissed Ton's cheek where the bigger man

sat next to him.

Ton looked at him, his eyes wide with shock,

"What was that for?" Tommy smiled at him

sweetly, lifting his hands up to cup Ton's cheeks. "That was for NOT mating me when I was too

vulnerable to resist or give my permission,"

Tommy said softly. Ton swallowed thickly and

nodded. "That's the only reason you didn't mate

me right? It wasn't that you were suddenly turned

off by me?" he asked, uncertain, biting his lower

lip. Ton didn't say anything, just reached up and

grabbed one of Tommy's hands and pressed it

firmly against his very large erection.

"Point taken," Tommy grinned. The two men

shared another small kiss and pulled away just as

Luci returned to the table.

"So Luci, tell me, where's your mate?" Tommy

asked curiously as he took a sip of water from his glass. The room filled with tension immediately

and Tommy found himself glancing back and forth

between Ton and Luci. The two of them were

having some kind of silent conversation with their

eyes and Tommy could feel their anxiety rolling

off of them in waves. What the hell was going on

and what were they keeping secret?

"He isn't really able to claim me. So...we

know who each other is, but we're just not able to

act on it," Luci evaded the question before

excusing herself with an excuse that she wanted to

go and pack up her car and rushing from the room.

Tommy turned to look at Ton with an

incredulous look. Ton shook his head and held up his hands in surrender. "Uh-uh. Don't look at me

like that. It's not my story to tell. Believe me I

want her and this guy to mate, I truly do, but they

won't do it. They asked me to keep that secret and

I won't betray their trust," the Texan said. Tommy

nodded and sighed. He respected his man for

honoring the wishes of his sister and not divulging

her secret but he was curious by nature and he

really wanted to know.

"I understand honey," Tommy reassured his

mate and yawned widely. He merely smiled when

Ton stood up and scooped him into his arms before

carrying him back to bed. His man could carry

him wherever he wanted to and he wouldn't protest at all. When Ton made a move to get off of the

bed, Tommy grabbed onto his wrist and smiled at

him again.

"Stay?" he asked and Ton nodded.

"Only for a minute, then I've got to clean up

the kitchen and get our stuff in the truck. I've got

to get back to the ranch and we've got to leave

today," Ton stated before climbing over Tommy to

settle beside him on the bed. Tommy nodded and

turned over onto his right side, pressing his back to

Ton's chest and his ass to other man's jean-covered

erection. He smiled as Ton growled low in his

chest.

"Stop playing with fire baby and get some sleep. We ain't gonna do nothing 'til you're feeling

better and it ain't gonna hurt you," Ton groaned,

his southern drawl more pronounced. Tommy had

noticed when he'd visited Richard months before

that Ton's accent and Southern dialect was only

apparent when he was really angry or really turned

on and if the very large pipe poking him in the ass

was any indication, his big cowboy was very

turned on indeed.

"I can guarantee you Ant, I'll be feeling 100%

by the time we get to Texas. So be ready to not

leave the bedroom for a while, because I want to

learn how to ride properly and I'm practicing on

you," Tommy promised just before he relaxed into sleep.

CHAPTER SIX

Ton groaned when Tommy bent over in front of

him. His canines lengthened and he felt his cock

throbbing behind his jeans aching to be buried

inside of his mate's tight ass. His hands reached

forward to grab onto Tommy's hips when the

smaller man stood up and walked away from him

to head back outside to the truck to finish getting

the rest of his things. They had made it to their

house about an hour ago after stopping at Home

Depot for some paint and had begun moving in Tommy's things. With each careful step and

movement Ton felt himself grow more and more

aroused by his mate. He could barely suppress the

growl that threatened to emerge every time the

smaller man came in his field of vision, but

between him bending over, grunting under the

weight of some of his personal items and the

pungent, fragrant aroma of his sweat, Ton knew

that he was moments from letting his wolf snap out

of his control and claiming his mate. He grunted

and then walked outside to the truck. He waved at

Richard and Vet who were playing with the triplets

outside on the new playground that Vet had bought

for them. They made a great couple the alpha and his mate, but Ton did not envy them the children

that they raised. He paused and frowned as a

sudden thought occurred to him. Did Tommy

want kids?

He shook his head and continued towards the

truck. There was no sense in worrying about kids

when he had yet to actually claim the man. He

saw Luci and Tommy headed towards him,

carrying a piece of furniture between them, piled

up with suitcases and boxes. He knew at that

moment, watching Tommy carry his things

towards their new house that his man was ready to

be claimed. He didn't have to wait any

longer. With a wolfish grin he hurried to the truck to grab the last few items and slammed the truck

door closed and raced back to the house. It was

time to claim his mate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I think we should paint this room before we

move everything in," Tommy said with a smile as

he looked over at Ton. The cowboy had been

acting strange all afternoon. First he'd taken

everything and shoved it into the bedroom. Then

he'd rushed Luci out of the house, telling her that

Richard and Vet had lunch for her at their house

and that she could stay with them if she were planning to spend the night. After Luci had left,

he'd leaned against the front door, crossed his arms

and just grinned at Tommy. Tommy was slightly

nervous by Ton's sudden mood shift and he found

himself babbling to cover his nervousness.

"I think that's a great idea," Ton agreed before

pushing away from the door and walking over to

the love seat against the wall. Tommy followed

him and with a shy smile helped him to lift the

love seat and carry it into the kitchen. They

moved quickly but carefully and moved all of the

furniture, paintings and electronics from the living

room into the kitchen and the dining room before

laying down huge pieces of blue tarp that Ton brought in from the barn that he laid down over the

beautiful cherry hardwood floors to protect them

from paint splatters. Tommy's jaw dropped and

his breath stuttered in his chest when Ton removed

his shirt before beginning to paint. Adjusting his

rapidly growing erection in his cut-off shorts,

Tommy fanned his suddenly flushed face with his

red tank top and turned back to his wall to begin

painting.

Both men painted steadily for five minutes

before Tommy growled in frustration.

"Tommy? Are you okay baby?" Ton asked

and Tommy merely nodded.

"I need some music. This is tedious and boring if I can't listen to music," he admitted and

he heard Ton chuckle behind him.

"Well, why don't you turn on some music

then?" Ton asked him before turning back to his

wall to continue painting.

With a determined nod, Tommy walked out of

the room and returned shortly after with his iPod

and his iPod Home system and after getting them

both set up in the middle of the room, with the

iPod home plugged into an extension cord leading

into an outlet in the kitchen, he turned on his iPod

listening device. Scrolling through the songs he

came across a song that he thought was perfect for

what they were doing. With a grin he pressed play and the throbbing beat of "Paint" by Travis

Garland and JoJo began to play.

With a grin, Tommy rolled his hips and danced

back over to the wall and his paint tray. He

became so entranced by the song, which he had put

on repeat, and what he was doing that he didn't

even notice that Ton had walked up behind him

and began to dance closely behind him. Tommy

moaned and pressed his ass back into Ton's

groin. The two men continued to dance

seductively with each other, the beat of the music

matching the beats of their heart and the throbbing

in their erections. Tommy felt so safe and

treasured with Ton's arms wrapped around him from behind., the bigger man's paint splattered

hands rubbing across his chest, with his hardened

nipples and his slim but muscled thighs.

When Ton's hands left paint streaks on his skin,

Tommy squealed and pushed away. The desire

darkening Ton's eyes gave him momentary pause

but with effort he continued with his rant.

"Ton! You got paint all over my clothes and

my skin!" he stated in exasperation, his hands on

his hips. He expected Ton to apologize profusely,

he didn't expect for the larger man to bend over

and stick his two large hands in one of the paint

buckets and to toss the paint directly at him. The

paint landed in his beautiful black hair, the dark red streaking his curly locks, and all over his torso,

neck, legs and face. With another squeal he raced

over to another bucket of the dark red paint and

stuck his own hands inside before tossing the paint

back at Ton. It wasn't long before the two of them

were tossing paint all over each other, the walls,

the fireplace, the front door and all over the tarp

that covered the floor.

Tommy laughed breathlessly when Ton

scooped him up in his arms and pressed his face

into the smaller man's neck.

"Say you surrender," Ton growled.

"Never," Tommy giggled as Ton tickled his

sides before lifting him into the air. Without thought Tommy locked his legs around Ton's waist,

his arms around the cowboy's neck.

"Surrender," Ton demanded playfully again

before nipping gently at Tommy's

earlobe. Tommy shuddered as lightening raced

from his ear through his head, his chest and his

legs before settling in his groin, his erection

growing to full mast at the feeling.

"N-n-never," Tommy panted. Ton knelt on the

floor and laid Tommy down upon it before lifting

up his shirt. He pressed his lips against Tommy's

throbbing pulse in his neck. He made his way

down the smaller man's chest, taking small bites

and placing small kisses across the skin. Tommy shuddered when he felt the raspy touch of Ton's

tongue upon his erect nipples. Ton licked around

and around the nipple before sucking it deep into

his mouth. He then pulled at the erect nub with

his teeth and pulled the flesh taut almost to the

point of pain before releasing it. Tommy groaned,

his hands coming up to clutch at and touch the

firm, muscled flesh of this bigger man.

Ton moved over to the neglected nipple, while

his fingers came up to play with the wet nub he'd

just left. Tommy's hips began to thrust up, seeking

something firm to rub against, the desire had

become an ache inside of him and he needed

something to ease it. He needed Ton inside of him. Deep inside of him. He moaned Ton's name

as the older wolf licked and nibbled his way down

the smaller man's torso to the top of his shorts.

"I like you in these," the Texan growled before

opening the button fly on the shorts and pulling

them down Tommy's legs.

"I'm glad," Tommy panted as he felt Ton push

his legs apart and settle in between them. He was

open, exposed and vulnerable to the other man,

who merely allowed his eyes to rake over his pain

splattered skin.

"Gods you look so good spread out like this for

me. Naked, sweaty, aroused, covered in paint like

you're about to be covered in my seed," Ton growled and Tommy moaned in answer. "Do you

like that? The idea of my come splattered all over

you? Marking you as mine?" Ton asked and

Tommy nodded his head in agreement, words

being too much for his brain to process at that

point.

With a wolfish grin, Ton leaned over and

swallowed Tommy's erection. He licked around

the head before following the thick vein down the

smaller man's cock before licking back up the

other side and taking him back in his mouth and

down into his throat. Tommy felt as if he were on

a cloud of pleasure. His hands couldn't seem to

keep still, running through his hair, Ton's hair, over Ton's back and skin, his hips thrusting up as he

tried to get deeper down the bigger man's throat.

"That's right beautiful, fuck my face," Ton

rasped and Tommy obeyed. His hips thrust up

faster and faster and he felt his balls tightening up

and he knew he was on the verge of coming down

his lover's throat when Ton pulled away.

Tommy whined as Ton stood up and hurriedly

pulled off his jeans before reaching into the pocket

and pulling out the small tube of lube that he kept

inside. He poured a generous amount over his

fingers and rubbed around the puckered entrance

to Tommy's ass. With a groan of pleasure, Tommy

lifted his knees to his chest and grabbed onto the back of his knees and held himself open. Ton

pushed in first one finger, letting Tommy get used

to the invasion before he began to thrust the finger

in and out gently. After Tommy's sphincter had

relaxed some, Ton pressed in another finger. It

wasn't long before two of Ton's fingers became

three and then the three became four, pounding

deep into Tommy's ass.

Tommy was incoherent as he babbled out Ton's

name and begged for more, for harder, for

deeper. He wailed in distress when Ton removed

his fingers from his clenching hole only to sigh in

relief when Ton replaced his fingers with his

lubricated, leaking cock. Ton pressed deeply into the smaller man, pressing against his legs, his

hands resting beside Tommy's shoulders, folding

the other man almost in half.

"Are you ready?" he gritted out between

clenched teeth and Tommy knew that he was

struggling not to move. He nodded his head

eagerly and moaned when he felt the bigger man

withdraw his cock until only the head remained

before pressing back in deeply. Tommy jerked

and groaned loudly when he felt Ton's cock press

against his prostate.

"There it is," he heard Ton's voice say with

satisfaction, and with a slight adjustment of his

hips Ton began to thrust deeper and faster into Tommy's hot, tight channel, his every thrust in

pegging Tommy's prostate. With a gasp, Tommy

felt his balls tighten again and he knew that he was

about to experience the biggest orgasm of his life.

"Oh gods yes!! Fuck me Ton!! Fuck! Right

there. Right there! YES!" Ton lowered Tommy's

legs just as he was about to sail over the precipice

into glorious death and then Tommy felt the bigger

man tilt his head to the side.

"Do you want me to claim you and mark you

Tommy?" the wolf shifter asked him, never

stopping his thrusts into his body.

"Yes, fucking do it already Ton! Claim

me! Mark me! Make me yours forever," Tommy sobbed, his heart, his body, even his soul clenching

with desire. Lightening flashed behind his eyelids,

his heart stopped for a moment and his seed shot

from the top of his aching cock as he felt Ton's

canines sink deep into the side of his neck. He felt

himself soaring as he shouted out Ton's name and

then he knew nothing.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Tommy opened his eyes slowly. He was

disoriented. The sound of "Paint" still played in

the background. Where the hell was he? Then his

mind cleared from the haze of the earth shattering

orgasm he'd just experienced and his body became

aware of a few things all at once. He was wrapped

in the big, muscled arms of Ton. His mate. The

two of them were covered in paint from head to

two. The room they laid in was covered in

paint...and his ass ached as if he'd been impaled on a battering ram. He grinned at that thought. Ton

was very well endowed so he wasn't too far from

the truth with that one. He shifted his hips slightly

from where he lay on the floor with one of Ton's

muscled legs wrapped around his own and winced

at the delightful pain. When he felt slight pressure

in his rear, he knew that it was time to expel all of

the white seed that Ton had shot within

him. Moving slowly he tried to extract himself

from the bigger man's protective hold on him.

"Where do you think you're going?" Ton's

deep voice growled, rough from sleep.

Tommy turned his head and placed a small kiss

on Ton's lips before replying, "I've got to go to the little boy's room." He watched as Ton's eyes

opened and stared at him. Then the wolf's eyes

traveled over his face, down his neck and to the

juncture where his neck and shoulder met,

focusing on the sign of their mating. The mating

mark began to throb deliciously the longer that Ton

stared at it and Tommy felt his morning erection

get even harder. He moaned and began to rub his

ass against the larger man's own erection.

"Iffen you wanted to go to the bathroom, I

suggest you go now, otherwise, I'm liable to keep

you on this floor for the next five hours or

so. However long it takes me to make you come

five more times," Ton drawled, his voice filled with amusement.

Tommy growled himself at Ton's words and

then without another word he rolled out of Ton's

arms and hurried to the bathroom, although his gait

was a little off from the pounding that his ass

received. He heard Ton chuckle at his enthusiasm

and his walk but he didn't care. He wanted to go

and empty his ass in the bathroom and take a piss

and then he wanted to go back into the living room

and have Ton fill him back up all over again. With

that thought in mind, he closed the bathroom door

and set about getting his business done.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Seven hours later, Tommy and Ton fell back

onto the couch in their finally, fully painted living

room. They'd had to paint the mantle of the

fireplace, the front door, the window sills in the

living room and Tommy had decided it would be a

good idea to paint every other stone in their stone

fireplace, and it had given the fireplace a really

nice affect and made it flow with the rest of the

room. Or at least that's what Tommy had told

him. Ton didn't really know all that much about

fashion and colors and palettes and light and

contrasts...but his mate did so that was all that

really mattered. He opened his mouth to ask his mate about

what room they were going to paint next and what

color they were going to paint it when his stomach

growled loudly. Tommy giggled and he felt

himself blush for the first time in decades.

"I guess we haven't really eaten in a while

huh?" Tommy said with another grin. Ton loved

his mate's smile, it was all innocence and sunshine

and hot, steamy sinfulness all rolled into one. Ton

became more and more enamored of his mate each

time that the smaller man smiled. He'd give the

man whatever he wanted as long as he kept

smiling at him like that.

"Not since yesterday before we started painting," he stated, his gaze fastened on his mate's

full lips, he leaned forward to kiss him and fell

face forward into the cushions. Confused as to

where his mate was and why he wasn't underneath

him where he belonged, he turned his face to the

side and saw Tommy looking down at him with

amusement in his eyes, his lips pulled up into a

beautiful smile.

"First we eat and then we paint our bedroom a

deep blue color which is supposed to encourage

intimacy and arousal and then you can fuck me

through the mattress, okay?" the smaller man

offered before turning towards the kitchen. Ton

nodded, although his mate was no longer standing before him. Tommy was right, they needed to eat

if they were going to keep his strength up. They

needed to paint the bedroom so that they could

sleep peacefully in the completely boring white

walls room. More than that, they need to fuck, to

have sex, to mate. They needed to do that more

than anything.

Ton stood up and followed his mate into the

kitchen. He watched as Tommy's ass shook in his

tight green aerobic pants, his white shirt pulled

tight and the hem of the shirt twisted and tied

above his belly button, as he stirred something in

a bowl. He leaned against the doorway and

watched as his little man fluttered around the room, preparing a meal. There were chicken

wings and drummettes, all rinsed and ready to be

smothered in something, waiting in a bowl on the

counter. There was a pot with fresh broccoli and

cauliflower boiling in another pot. There was

romaine lettuce, tomatoes, black olives, feta

cheese, Parmesan cheese, cilantro, garlic powder,

fresh garlic, Italian seasoning, and Cajun seasoning

all sitting on the counter.

"What are you making?" he queried, raising his

eyebrows in curiosity when Tommy reached up to

grab the flour from the cabinet and dumped some

into the bowl he was stirring before grabbing the

bowl of chicken and dumping them in that bowl. "Breaded Parmesan Chicken wings, Greek

salad, a Broccoli and Cauliflower Rice mixture,

and for dessert I'm going to make a cherry

cobbler," Tommy stated without stopping or

looking over at him. Ton's stomach growled

angrily at the sound of the food, desperately

wanting to be fed the delightful meal right then but

he knew that he would have to wait.

"Sounds good babe," he stated as he walked up

and kissed the back of Tommy's head, the smaller

man had pulled his gorgeous black hair up into a

ponytail at the top of his head and Ton took a

moment to sniff his hair before leaning over and

placing another kiss right on Tommy's mating mark. He grinned when the other man shivered,

glad to know that the mark had become an

erogenous zone for his delightful mate and stood to

his full height. "I'm going to go ahead and check

on things with the alpha and with the ranch, but I'll

be back in an hour, is that enough time for

everything to be done?" he asked.

"That's perfect. Just don't forget to wash your

hands before you sit down to eat okay Ant?"

Tommy stated as he turned up the music on his

iPod home, effectively cutting off Ton's

reply. Realizing that his mate didn't need an

answer and that he'd been summarily dismissed,

Ton grinned again and turned to saunter out of the house. He stepped out of his now dry, freshly

painted front door and closed the door behind

him. The Texas sun was shining brightly and he

wished for a moment that he'd grabbed his

sunglasses from the bedroom, but realizing he was

only walking from his house into the alpha's he

decided against it. No sooner had the thought

crossed his mind than his wolf smelled the scent of

another man on his front step. A man he didn't

know. Sniffing around gently, he turned to face

the door and saw the envelope taped to the front of

it. How had he not seen that before?

He pulled off the envelope and saw his mate's

name scrawled across the front of it. He should probably give this to Tommy without reading it,

but the feeling of trepidation that crept over his

spine warned him against it and he opened it

instead. Seconds later he was glad he did when

the words that had been written to his mate filled

him with rage, protectiveness, possessiveness and

a hint of fear:

Hello Tommy-Boy,
Did you think that if you moved out
to Hicksville, TX that I wouldn't find you?
Did you think you were safe?
You belong to me. Always have, and
always will. It doesn't matter how big your new
boyfriend is. He'll just fall all that harder with a
bullet in his heart. And he will fall. And when
he's dead, I'll have you and I'll listen as you cry for
him. I'll masturbate to your pitiful sounds of
heartbreak and I'll come to your screams of torture
as I finally, finally make you mine, in every way.
It won't be long now, Tommy-Boy.
Yours Forever, A.Q.

Someone was after his mate and this person

had no problem going through him to get the

smaller man. Ton had to protect his mate, no matter what he had to do.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Tommy placed the plate of chicken on the table

and stepped back to look at what he'd prepared with a smile. He really did love cooking, he hadn't

lied when he'd told Ton that. He hadn't lied to Ton

about anything, yet. He just hadn't told him

everything about his life before the big man had

entered it. Pushing down the feeling of guilt that

threatened to choke him, he turned and walked into

the bedroom that he shared with his new

mate. The walls were still white but he'd made

Ton stop at a few stores on their way home, so

their king sized bed was covered in a dark blue and

brown bedspread with sheets, a bed skirt, the

works. Stepping around the bags of bedroom

decor, his suitcases that hadn't been unpacked and

the shoes and hats, sunglasses and jewelry that all needed to be put away, he stepped into the

bathroom and gasped when he saw his image in

the mirror.

"And that' how you know that you have to be

his mate, because why else would he find you

attractive looking like this?" he admonished his

mirror image, shaking his head before picking up

his brush and methodically brushing the thick,

luxurious black curls until they gleamed. He

picked up his makeup bag and opened it the top

before spreading the compartments wide to allow

him to see everything inside. Biting his lower lip,

he looked at himself in the mirror again before

turning away and stepping back into the bedroom. Walking over to his suitcase that sat

opened on the bed, filled with his "casual" outfits,

he pulled out a pair of black shorts that clung to his

shapely ass and distracted attention from his

cock. Sifting through the garments on the other

side of the suitcase he found the purple blouse he'd

been looking for. It only had one button, right at

the point where his bra would be, the fabric was a

very soft cotton, the sleeves were narrow and

while they didn't cling to his arms, they did show

their impression. Laying both items over one arm,

he turned and walked to his black silk Gucci bag

that sat in the corner and picked it up to carry with

him into the bathroom. Once there, he pulled off the clothes that he

wore and opened the bag he'd brought with

him. Reaching down into the bag his hands

searched and he smiled when he pulled out a pair

of black silk thong panties and a black bra. He

pulled on the thong and fastened the front closure

bra, before pulling up the straps. Reaching further

into the bag he found the box that held his bra

inserts and he placed them in their proper

places. Looking down at his now enhanced chest,

he pulled on his shorts and adjusted his silk

encased cock behind the zipper to diminish its

appearance. Some people thought that he wore

women's clothes because he hated his cock and wanted to be a woman. That wasn't it at all. He

loved his cock. Hell, before Ton, he played with it

more than anyone else did. He just liked wearing

women's clothing. He liked putting on makeup

and lingerie and putting on a bra. The inserts were

just to emphasize everything and sometimes he

tucked so as to not detract from the skirt or the

dress he was wearing, but he was a proud gay

man...he was just a proud gay man who liked to

wear women's clothing. He didn't see what the big

damn deal was or why people seemed to make

such a big deal about it, it was his body and his

mate didn't seem to mind it. They could just fuck

off for all he cared. Shrugging off the negative thoughts, he put on

some deodorant before spraying himself with a

light cologne fragrance that he'd created, and then

pulled on his shirt. Buttoning the one button and

smoothing down the fabric of the shirt he turned

back to the mirror and smiled at himself. Now he

knew what look he was going to go for.

Not that it's going to matter. It doesn't matter

how much makeup you put on, how many times

you put on women's clothing. It won't change

anything. You won't ever be able to hide from

me. I will always find you and you will always be

a freak, my freak and don't you forget that

Thomas. His ex-partner's voice rang in his head. They were the last words that Adam had

said to him before he'd been dragged out of the

courtroom by the police officers to serve his

twenty years for the abuse, rape, assault and

battery, resisting arrest, threatening, witness

tampering, selling and use of an illegal substance

and kidnapping of Tommy that he'd been charged

for. Adam had been scary before that

day. Possessive, protective, loyal, fiercely jealous,

intimidating...those were traits that had attracted

Tommy to Adam at the beginning but when that

morphed into Adam being controlling, angry,

malicious, violent, hurtful and meant that he flew

off into murderous rages where he would attack Tommy? That's when Tommy had left...the first

time. Adam had apologized and said it would

never happen again.

He lied. If anything Adam got worse as time

progressed until Tommy had been a broken,

bruised, frightened caged bird who had gone to the

police, gone for help the minute that Adam had left

to visit some college friends of his. The police

had laughed at him at first, none of them believing

that a man could be abused by another man, but

when they began to look into the evidence, they'd

been overwhelmed by the number of neighbors

that had come forward, by the sheer volume of text

messages, phone calls, and pictures of him bruised and bloodied. Adam had gotten twenty years for

everything, especially since when he'd been let out

on bail, he'd kidnapped Tommy and tried to hid

him away until the trial was over. They had been

spotted by a cop, however, and that helped to

solidify his conviction. Tommy was glad when

Adam had been taken to that back room to be sent

to prison, but the words that the man had said to

him in a very calm and monotone voice had given

him the chills and stayed with him, even three

years later.

Tommy blinked and looked at himself in the

mirror, before his lips stretched wide into a happy

grin. He had put on his makeup flawlessly even though his mind had been years into the

past. With a final brush to his eyelashes with his

mascara and a last pucker of his dark pink lips, he

put all of his makeup away and closed the

bag. Cleaning up his mess as he walked back into

the bedroom he heard the front door open and then

close long moments later.

"Baby? Where are you? The food looks great

are you ready to eat?" he heard Ton's deep voice

wash over him and he groaned silently as he felt

himself growing aroused and shivered as he

remembered the feel of his mate's big cock

slamming into his tight ass. Taking a deep breath,

he exhaled before he answered. "I was just changing sweetheart, I'll be right

out."

He heard voices and wondered who his mate

had invited over, glad that he'd always made more

than what was needed whenever he

cooked. Quickly tidying the room, he smoothed

his hands over his hair once more, before putting

on his pair of diamond stud earrings and the purple

bracelet set that Richard had bought for him the

year before. Stepping out of the bedroom he

closed the door behind him and walked towards

the dining room. He smiled when he saw who sat

at the table with his mate: Vet, Richard, Luci, Ross,

that he'd met in passing as they'd been moving in all of his stuff the day before, Howell, the only

black cowboy that Tommy had ever met that had

long, black dreadlocks that hung down to below

his shoulders, and three other people at the table

that Tommy didn't know, one man and two

women...no two men and one woman. One of the

men was sitting next to Ross, the two of them

clutching hands, while the other

man...woman? The other person sat on Howell's

lap, the large black man leaning forward

continuously to sniff at his neck and kiss the

mating mark on his neck. He guessed that they

were newly mated. The other woman sat next to

Luci and the two women smiled continuously at each other. Tommy stepped forward and smiled

happily when Ton jumped up from his seat and

raced around the table to stand next to him.

"Everyone, this is my mate, Tommy. Most of

you know him, but let me introduce the rest of

you," Ton said, his hands moving in sign language

to one of the people at the table and Tommy felt

his jaw drop at the realization that his mate knew

sign language and that someone at the table was

deaf.

"Tommy, of course I don't have to introduce

you to Richard or Vet. Not sure if you remember

Ross from yesterday? The man he's making

googly eyes with is his mate, Alex, my old boyfriend actually," Ton grinned and Tommy was

pleased that there didn't seem to be any bitterness

in his voice when he gave the introduction. He

turned his head to look at Alex and smiled. Alex

was a blonde main, whose hair was extremely

wavy and fell to his shoulders, he had hazel eyes

and he had a surfer's body. Alex smiled back at

him before turning back to kiss Ross who had

leaned forward to kiss his shoulder. Tommy knew

then that Alex would not be competition for him at

all for Ton's affections and he felt himself relax

even more. "You remember Howell right?" Ton

asked him and Tommy smiled and nodded at the

big black man who nodded his head in greeting before doing something underneath the table that

caused the smaller man...woman to giggle. "The

giggly little man on his lap is Michael. He's one

of the wolves that just recently joined the pack

because his pack kicked him out for not only being

gay and deaf, but he's transgender. Male to

female, he just didn't get the full procedure done,"

Ton stated with no hesitation and Tommy gasped

and how nonchalantly the big Texan divulged the

life story of this complete stranger.

"Don't worry baby, he told me I could tell

you," Ton assured his mate. Tommy nodded and

greeted the other man shyly, slightly relieved that

he wouldn't be the only other man who didn't just fall under the "G" heading in the LGBT

community. "And sitting next to Luci is Michael's

sister, Katharina." Tommy nodded to the beautiful

blonde woman who sat next to Luci and smiled

when she grinned back widely.

"It's very nice to meet all of you," he said with

happy smile and sat in the chair that Ton held out

for him.

"Well, let's eat," Ton stated in a booming voice.

"Damn Ton! If Mikey wasn't already deaf,

you yelling that loudly would have made him that

way," Howell teased and everyone laughed and

began passing around the food as everyone filled

up their plates. Tommy smiled as he watched everyone exclaiming happily over the food, very

proud of himself. He was so focused on everyone

else that he jumped a little when he felt Ton's

breath on his ear as the bigger man leaned over to

speak softly to him.

"Sorry, I didn't ask before I brought everyone

over, but everyone wanted to meet you. But when

they all leave, you and I are going to talk to Vet

and Richard and you're going to explain about the

letter that was left on our front door earlier."

Tommy looked at his mate in confusion, "A

letter? What letter? From who?"

Ton stared at him for a moment before

growling softly, "He didn't leave his name, just his initials. A. Q."

Tommy gasped and felt the blood leave his

face as he began to tremble with fear. The entire

room grew quiet as all of the wolves scented

Tommy's fear.

"Who the hell is A.Q. Tommy?" Ton asked and

Tommy heard Richard's soft cry of "Oh no!"

Still trembling in fear Tommy answered his

mate in a soft, shaking voice, "Adam Quinn. My

ex-boyfriend who's supposed to be serving twenty

years in prison out in New York for beating me up

and kidnapping me," he looked over at Ton, his

eyes bright with unshed tears, "How is he out and

how did he find me?" It was a question that couldn't be answered by

anyone at the table, only by the very man who had

apparently come for Tommy.

HAPTER NINE

Tommy swallowed thickly and tried to push

back the fear clawing at his throat as he stood

shakily to his feet and muttered something

unintelligble to the room before rushing towards

the bedroom where he grabbed his bag and began

to stuff his clothes and belongings inside of it. He

felt more than heard Ton follow him into the

room. He ignored him and continued to grab

clothes and shoes, undergarments and only stopped

when Ton grabbed his arms and held him tightly

against him. It was only then that he realized that he was shaking.

"Ssshhh. It's okay beautiful. Don't you know

by now that I'm not going to let anything happen to

you? Don't you remember what happened to the

last men that attacked you?" Ton whispered

reassuringly into his ear. Tommy nodded as he

remembered his attack and the news reports that

came in shortly after about the "wolf" attack on the

men who had done it. He knew that Ton would do

everything that he could to protect him and

although his mate was huge and a wolf shifter to

boot, he wasn't Adam Quinn. Adam Quinn was

ruthless, cold-hearted, and he had

connections...seedy, underhanded, illegal connections, as well as respectable, wealthy, high

society ones. The fact that he'd been arrested,

tried, convicted and sentenced was largely in part

because of the overwhelming evidence, photos,

videotapes, audio recordings, threatening emails

and text messages that proved that Adam had been

ruthlessly and senselessly beating Tommy for a

while. If they hadn't had those key pieces of

evidence Adam would never have seen a

courtroom. So it didn't make sense that the man

could be out of jail. That he could have found

him. That he was still threatening his life.

Tommy pressed his body close to Ton's and

took a shuddering breath, "I don't want anything to happen to you," he whispered into the bigger man's

chest. He felt Ton stiffen slightly and pull back a

little to look down at him.

"You were trying to run to protect me?" he

asked incredulously. Confused by the disbelief in

his mate's tone Tommy merely nodded his

head. Had he broken some sacred wolf shifter

mate code or something? Was he not supposed to

try and protect his mate? Was he supposed to

simply let Ton take care of him but never

reciprocate? Tommy snorted mentally. That

would never happen. If Ton insisted on taking

care of him and protecting him then he would just

have to get used to the fact that Tommy would be doing the same thing for him.

"I can't remember the last time that someone

tried to protect me," he heard Ton whisper in shock

and he felt his body fill with warmth at the

underlying sound of awe that tinged his mate's

words.

"Well, get used to it. I may be small and like

to dress up in drag, but I am all man under here

and I protect what's mine," Tommy said fiercely,

wrapping his arms around Ton's waist and placing

a kiss on the cowboy's chest. He felt Ton's

chuckle rumble through his chest and sighed

contentedly. He was still afraid for Ton, and for

everyone else on the ranch, Adam could be vicious when provoked. He didn't want to put anyone in

danger but it seemed as if his mate was refusing to

let him leave and to be quite honest, he didn't

really want to go anywhere anyway. He had never

felt safer than he did at that moment with Ton's

arms wrapped around him tightly, their hearts

beating in sync with each other. He wished the

rest of the world would just fade away, but he was

aware that that was impossible. Life continued,

regardless of the tender moment that he was

sharing with his mate, the world kept spinning, and

their guests were still sitting in the dining room,

probably wondering what was going on...THEIR

GUESTS! Tommy stiffened and then stepped out of Ton's

arms with a gasp. Ignoring the other man's look of

confusion, he hurried into the bathroom and gave a

small cry of dismay at his appearance. His hair

and makeup were smudged. Shooing Ton out of

the bathroom he set about the task of fixing his

appearance before returning to the dining room

table and the people who waited there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ton grunted when the bathroom door shut in

his face and turned to head back into the dining

room, barely sparing a glance at his mate's hastily packed bag knowing that the smaller man wasn't

going anywhere without him tagging

along. Stepping back into the dining room he was

happy to see that no one had left. He was coming

to realize that the number of people who cared

about him was a lot bigger than just his sister

Luci. He hand friends, their mates, their families

and now...he had his own mate. A little spitfire

who had been willing to leave him, just to keep

him safe, even though Ton was so much bigger

than him. It was almost as if Tommy didn't see his

size. It was a little bit of a relief, especially when

that seemed to be all that others could see.

"How is he?" he heard Richard ask and he nodded with a small quirk of his lips. He had

never been happier than the day he'd gone to pick

up the alpha mate's best friend and smelled his

mate among the crowd. When he saw the

beautiful little man sashaying his way he had

struggled to remember that his mate was there

when all he wanted to do at that point was to lift

Tommy into his arms and fuck him against the

nearest wall. He'd been the happiest cowboy

around when he'd discovered that the beautiful

little man and his mate were one and the same. He

had been waiting for his mate his entire life and

he'd be damned if he was going to let some punk

ass come and threaten the man that he loved. Ton pulled up short, his head tilting to the side

and his eyebrows flew into his

hairline. Loved? Did he just say love? He didn't

love Tommy. He couldn't love Tommy, it was too

soon. Regardless of what those romance novels

that his sister read and he, you know, glanced at

occasionally said, mates did not fall in love

instantly. The possessiveness, the protectiveness

was there, the connection was deep and long

lasting, but love? Love was not an automatic

thing. He shook himself out of his mental

stupor. He couldn't love Tommy, it was way too

soon. He'd obviously just thought that because of

the fact that his mate's life was in danger, yeah, that was it. The danger to his mate made his wolf

snarl and growl and struggle to get out, while

making his human self, emotional and

mushy. Just like he was some goddamn chick in

one of those sappy romance novels. Next

someone would ask him what was wrong and he'd

answer and say something stupid and Tommy

would be standing right there, they would argue

and Tommy would leave then Adam would kidnap

him and he would spend the next...oh fifty pages or

so, trying to get him back, when he would then

admit his love for the smaller man, Tommy would

say it back and the book would end with them

having sex in some impossible way, with a lot of moaning, groaning and trite dialogue. Life did not

imitate art.

"Hey man, what's wrong?" he heard Ross ask

him and before he could open his mouth and say

something incredibly stupid like, "Oh you know,

my mate, you know the cross-dressing

human? Has got someone trying to kill him and I

think I may be feeling something for him, but that's

not possible, because he's a human and I'm a

wolf. He may be my mate, but he'll never be my

lover," he smelled his mate return to the

room. Turning towards him, he felt his mouth

drop open in amazement and his breath catch in his

chest. Tommy had changed into a pair of tight jeans

with a red cotton shirt that hung off one shoulder,

the sleeves coming ending right at his wrists. He

had pulled his hair up into a ponytail at the top of

his head, He had replaced his makeup, his lips

were a soft shade of red, looking plump and wet,

and he was wearing a pair of red pumps. He

looked breathtaking and Ton felt his wolf growling

inside of him, wanting to claim his mate, on the

table in front of everyone. More than that,

however, he wanted to fall to his knees before the

other man and wrap his arms around him and beg

him to never leave him or let him go.

With that thought in his head, the truth smacked him like a two by four. He was a

character from a fucking romance novel because

he realized at that moment that he loved his

mate. Hopelessly, fiercely and forever.

Shit.

CHAPTER TEN

Tommy glanced over at Ton. Why the hell was

the man looking at him like he was an alien from

another planet? He may be a cross-dresser but Ton

was the damn wolf shifter! Lifting his eyebrows in

confusion, he watched as his mate visibly shook

himself out of his mental stupor and then gestured

for him to come to his side. Tommy walked over to

him and stood in front of the larger man with a

look of hesitation.

"We have to figure out what our next plan of

action is going to be beautiful," Ton said before leaning over to kiss Tommy's forehead. Tommy

moaned and pressed himself closer, for once

annoyed by the falsies in his bra that prevented

him from feeling his mate's chest pressed against

his own.

"We can always just leave and he'll never find

us," Tommy murmured into Ton's chest. He heard

Richard gasp and he turned to look at his best

friend with a lift of his left eyebrow in a silent

question.

"So you'd do that? Just tuck tail and run? Let

Adam win again? He already had you living in fear

in your heavily guarded apartment. He had you breathing scared. Now you're talking about

running away again?" Richard shook his head and

Tommy didn't know if his best friend was

disappointed or disgusted with him, but either way,

he felt awful. He wanted to apologize and tell

Richard that he didn't mean it. The problem

was...he DID mean it. He'd do anything to protect

Ton. Even if the other man was almost two or three

times bigger than he was in height and weight. Ton

was his mate and it was his job, his right, to keep

him safe at all cost. Richard was mated himself.

He was also desperately in love with his mate Vet.

Tommy wasn't quite there yet, he wasn't sure he

ever would be. He liked Ton just fine, so it wasn't that. It was just that, he didn't really know the

larger wolf all that well and how could you love

someone that you didn't even know? Besides, he

wasn't some twink from one of those romance

novels that he had on his Kindle and Ton wasn't

one of those large, dominant wolf shape shifters

who sweep their mates off their feet, claim them

and then after one really good night in bed they're

declaring their love for each other. He liked Ton,

he really did, it was just that the last man that he

had thought he was in love with had beat him to a

bloody pulp. He knew that Ton would cut off his

own arm before he would ever lift it in anger to

him, but he was still a little gun shy on this second go-round with love.

He was committed to Ton though. Knew that he

couldn't live without him, wouldn't be able to

function if he wasn't waking up in his big cowboy's

arms every morning, even if moments before he'd

been thinking about leaving him. That wasn't love

though. That gnawing ache in his chest at the

thought of never seeing his mate again. The feeling

of lightheadedness that he felt whenever Ton

smiled at him or kissed him. The fact that all he

wanted out of life at this point was for Ton to be

happy and safe. The need, the pressing, insistent

need to always be with Ton. The clawing hunger

for him, his time, his laughter, his body. None of those things meant that he was in love with his

mate. They just meant that he'd accepted their

mating, right? It wasn't that he did think he could

love Ton, he was well aware that he could, but he

didn't think that Ton would ever love him back and

he had made a promise to himself that he wouldn't

be in love alone ever again. So since he knew that

Ton didn't love him, then there was no way that he

could be in love with the other man, could he? He

nodded his head mentally. He wasn't in love with

him...was he?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hours later everyone had left. Vet had set up

guard duty with the members of the pack that lived

and worked on the ranch and had sent some pack

members out into the town to see if anyone had

noticed a stranger lurking around, or if a stranger

had been asking any questions. Someone had to

have told Adam where Tommy was living at. The

Tate Ranch was on the edge of town, on a very

large parcel of land that was not easily noticeable

from the road. Vet's ancestors had done that on

purpose, in order to protect the pack from prying

human eyes, so even if Adam had driven up and

down the street he wouldn't have been able to find the ranch unless someone had told him exactly

where to look. Ton was grateful to his pack and his

alpha for doing what they could to protect his

mate, but he knew that in the end, the demise of

Adam Quinn was going to be his alone.

He sighed as he walked back into the master

bedroom, his mind formulating and discarding

plans for finding Adam and ending his life of terror

and fear in his mate's life. His thoughts jumbled

and then cut off completely when he walked into

the bedroom fully. Tommy was bent over at the

waist, his long black hair falling to the side, his

pale skin gleaming, the globes of his ass thrust

upwards as he took off his heels and then his jeans. Ton heard his harsh breathing in his own ears and

he knew then that no one was going to take his

mate from him, because he'd never had such a

visceral reaction to anyone before. Without another

thought or a word to Tommy, he walked quickly to

the smaller man and knelt behind him, his large

tanned hands contrasting seductively with the pale

white skin of Tommy's ass as he pulled the cheeks

apart and first ran his nose up the crease of his

mate's ass from the skin behind his balls up to the

base of his spine.

He growled at the slightly musky smell of his

mate. He could still smell himself on the other man

and it made his wolf want to howl in triumph and pride that his mate wore his scent and had he not

wanted his mate so much, he would done just that,

instead he stuck out his tongue and drew it down

his mate's crease in the opposite direction that his

nose had just taken.

"Oh. Gods," he heard Tommy's shaking voice

as his body flushed a beautiful light pink color as

arousal rushed through his system. Ton growled

low again and with the tip of his tongue tasted the

outside of his mate's puckered entrance. Licking

from one side of the clenching hole to the fleshy

meat of one ass cheek, Ton bit down on his mate's

ass lightly. He grinned wolfishly as Tommy's body

jerked in pleasure and he squeaked like a mouse before moaning in delight.

Tracing his tongue over his mate's entire cheek,

he then licked and nibbled his way back to the hole

that seemed to be clenching and releasing as if it

were trying to speak and beg for something.

Deciding to give it what it was so desperately

asking for, Ton stuck the tip of his tongue gently

inside of the clenching hole, twin groans of

pleasure coming from both him and Tommy. Ton

felt the ring of Tommy's ass squeeze his tongue as

if trying to pull the intruding muscle deep within

itself and never let go. Wiggling his tongue, he

slowly pulled it out before tracing to the other side

of Tommy's ass and repeating the process. He returned his tongue back to his mate's hot, velvet

channel and began to simulate with his tongue

what his large, aching cock was going to be doing

soon. With one hand holding onto Tommy's hip, he

moved the other hand up over the smaller man's

balls, squeezing them gently, tracing over them

with the tip of his fingernail. He distantly heard the

sound of Tommy's panting cry for more, for him to

do something, for Ton to stop teasing him and fuck

him already. If Tommy could still talk then he

wasn't doing something right.

Pulling his tongue out of Tommy's ass and

giving it one last lick, the taste of his mate

embedded on his tongue, one of the best things he'd ever tasted, he turned Tommy to face him.

Without a word to Tommy, without looking up, he

opened his mouth and swallowed down Tommy's

leaking erection. He wanted to grin when he heard

Tommy's own distinctly human howl and felt his

long, slim fingers clutching the back of his head.

Reaching out with both hands, he held on to

Tommy's torso and lifted him as he stood, the

smaller man's cock still in his mouth.

"OH GOD TON!! WHAT THE HELL ARE

YOU-NNNGGGHH!" Tommy yelled and then

moaned as he felt himself hoisted in the air. Ton

shifted his mate's legs over his shoulders and

continued to suck his cock. He felt Tommy grab the back of his head frantically, his hips trying to

move desperately, wanting to fuck his mouth and

felt the other man's balls begin to draw up towards

his body. As much as he wanted the taste of his

mate's seed to coat his tongue he wanted to feel

him come around his cock. Taking a few steps to

the wall next to the tallboy dresser, he pressed

Tommy against the wall and released his cock. He

heard the smaller man whine and plead for him to

make him come and he ignored him as he stuck out

his right hand to the top of the dresser to grab the

lube that they'd placed there. Looking back at his

mate, his eyes dark with passion, a dazed look of

arousal stamped on his face, he felt his own whine come up out of his chest. He wish that he could

pound into the man without any preparation, but he

knew that wasn't possible.

Pressing his head against Tommy's stomach,

licking the abs that were displayed prominently

there, he opened the bottle of lube and poured

some over his fingers. Rubbing the cool liquid

between his fingers to warm it up, he placed one

finger at the entrance to his mate's channel and

tapped the clenching hole for a moment, listening

to the other man moan, feeling him shift. Without

another thought he sucked in Tommy's cock as he

rubbed one finger around the other man's hole

before pushing it in. His tongue swirled around his mate's cock

which was now leaking copious amounts of

pre-cum, he lowered his head to the base of

Tommy's cock and sucked hard, his cheeks

hollowing as he came back up, at the same time he

pushed in two fingers. He felt Tommy's clenching

hole slowly relax even as the slit at the head of his

cock released even more salty sweet liquid. His

mate's seed always tasted a lot sweeter than any

other man's that he'd tasted. He wondered why that

was. Hearing Tommy whine even more, he knew

he needed to return his full attention back to what

he was doing. Pressing in three fingers he began to

thrust his digits within his mate's ass faster and harder, the sound of his palm slapping up against

the skin of Tommy's balls turning him on even

more. He felt his cock leaking pre-cum onto the

carpet and knew that if he didn't get inside of his

mate soon he was going to to come all over the

wall.

Pulling his mouth off of his mate's erection he

looked up at the other man. "I can't wait any longer

baby," he rasped out as he poured copious amounts

of lube over his throbbing cock. He saw Tommy

nod, his hands caressing his head and jaw as he

was slowly lowered down the wall. Ton felt his

heart clench in his chest at his mate's tender touch

and swallowed thickly against the emotion rising in his throat. With his cock pressing against the

loosened entrance of his mate's ass, he slowly

pressed inside. When the head of his cock rested

within the other man's ass, he paused and groaned,

leaning his head forward and resting it on the wall

beside Tommy's head waiting for the other man's

muscles to relax. He slowly pressed deeper and

deeper inside until he bottomed out, his groin

pressed against the delicious globes of his mate's

ass. When he felt Tommy's lips on his temple he

pulled out slowly before thrusting back in. He

heard his mate's gasp and repeated the movement,

his hands gripping the smaller man's waist, leaving

bruises in his tight grip. "F-f-fuuuucccckkk," Tommy moaned out and

then Ton knew he was ready. Spreading his legs

and planting his feet he began to thrust up into his

mate deeper and harder with each thrust until he

was pounding into the other man's ass. Neither one

of them could speak. All coherent thought, all

language, all words flowing from their ears, their

brains melted under the onslaught of their passion,

the heat that blazed out of control as they kissed,

their tongues twisting and battling for control in

each of their mouths. He felt Tommy's arms wrap

around his shoulders as tightly as his legs were

wrapped around his hips and he thrust deeper,

shifting the angle of his thrust until he felt the ridge at the head of his dick graze the bundle of

nerves in Tommy's ass.

"OH GODS!" he heard Tommy scream as he

pegged his prostate again and again. His thrusts

were on point and caused a cacophony of sounds

to burst forth from his mate's lips. Nothing

coherent came out of his mouth, he babbled a

stream of pleas, demands, moans, groans, sobs and

cries of Ton's names and Ton felt himself swell

even bigger within his mate's ass at the knowledge

that his mate was so turned on that he was being

fucked stupid. No sooner had that thought come to

his mind, the pride swelling in his chest than that

pride shifted and became a blazing inferno of want, of need and desire, a yearning for something,

something more. There was something that he

needed. He was on the cusp of the greatest orgasm

he'd ever had and he knew that Tommy was as

well, both of them hanging on by a thread but

neither of them falling over. He felt his canines

lengthen and knew that he had to bite his mate

again, had to claim him once more.

So, without another thought he lowered his

mouth to his mate's neck and licked the mating

mark that could still be seen there. He felt Tommy

shiver and then growled as he saw his mate tilt his

head to the side, baring his neck in a sign of

submission. With a loud, audible, animalistic snarl and growl he struck and sank his teeth into his

mate's neck, right over the mating mark that was

already there. As his mate's sweet blood washed

over his tongue, Ton jerked his hips as if struck by

lightning. The ground shook, winds blew, he felt

his heart stop in his chest as his world was flipped

on its axis. He could taste his mate's rapture, his

bliss at being joined in that way with him. He

could taste Tommy's desire, his own blazing

orgasm as he too was pushed over the edge, pulled

under by the power of their mating, but there was

something else there, a deeper, more powerful

emotion, one that wrapped around his heart and

squeezed it. An emotion that warmed him from the inside out but also zipped through his entire being

until he withdrew his teeth, licked the wound

closed and with one final thrust, threw himself into

the wind of their joining. He howled Tommy's

name, his head thrown back, his eyes squeezed

shut tightly, his hips losing their rhythm as he

continued to thrust through his orgasm until he felt

Tommy come apart in his arms again, with him

following him into a second orgasm, no less

intense, though his seed only dribbled out of the

top of his still hard cock.

His legs shook from the force of his orgasm.

His knees buckled and he barely had the presence

of mind to lower himself first to his knees, still pressed within his lover, before he tilted to the

side, Tommy's arms and legs still clutching him

desperately, his cock still deep within the smaller

man. They panted, gasping for breath as their

hearts beat out a staccato rhythm before beginning

to slow down. Ton felt the flush of desire and

arousal slowly leave his body and that of his mate's

as he felt his cock soften within the other man's ass

before slowly sliding out. So relaxed and

exhausted was Tommy that with a small burst of

air, he expelled the evidence of Ton's completion,

the white fluid leaking from his hole to stain the

blue carpet. Ton felt Tommy's seed cooling on his

stomach and chest and the bottom of his chin where it had splattered as the other man found his

release and he looked over at Tommy and saw that

he too was covered in his own spunk, some of it

had even gotten into his hair. Rolling over towards

his mate, he began to clean him with his tongue,

swiping up the vestiges of the other man's

ejaculate. He swallowed some, moaning at the

taste of his mate's seed, it's flavor like ambrosia to

his senses. He licked up the rest and then leaning

over his almost comatose man he kissed him

deeply sharing Tommy's seed between the two of

them.

When the need for air overwhelmed them both,

Ton pulled away and stared down at his mate. Tommy was so beautiful to him, his black hair was

mussed, spread out underneath him on the floor,

his lips red and swollen from his kisses and from

the smaller man biting them to contain his

expressions of pleasure, his body still flushed from

their shared desire. His pale, thin cock resting

limply on his stomach, his legs spread open, his

ass leaking Ton's seed. He looked thoroughly

debauched and seduced. He looked gorgeous. Ton

felt that feeling grip his chest again and wondered

at it. Was he having a heart attack? Shifters didn't

usually suffer from such a human disorder, but that

wasn't to say that he wouldn't be the first. Blinking

his eyes rapidly at the burn at the back of them, he felt his throat close up with emotion as he thought

about leaving his mate. He wouldn't do it. He

wouldn't leave him. Looking back down at his

mate, he saw the softest, sweetest, most tender

expression on the other man's face and felt his own

face soften into the same expression. Tommy lifted

his hand and rested it upon his cheek and he

nuzzled into it before looking the other man in the

eye.

"I love you," he heard Tommy whisper and

without another word being spoken between them,

Ton lifted the man into his arms and kissed him

with all of the emotion inside of him that he was

still too afraid of to name, but ones that he knew his mate understood and knew of anyway.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

It wasn't the sound of the rooster crowing that

woke him up or even the sound of manly shouts as

horses were trained and cattle were branded. The

sound of a working farm and dude ranch did not

wake him from the deep comatose-like sleep that

he'd been in. What woke Tommy up from the

seductive dreams of him in the arms of his mate

was the voice of said mate in rumbling through his

chest and into his ear. He could tell by the

staccato sounds that Ton was talking in his sleep,

but he'd mentioned Tommy's name so he had to listen right?

"Mine. My

Tommy. Nngholof. Mate. Love..." Ton's deep

voice flowed over him and at the last word Tommy

felt his heart clench and the breath catch in his

throat. Did Ton say love? Tommy eased out of

Ton's arms, which were wrapped around him

firmly, and sat up to look down at his lover. His

eyes closed and he breathed a soft sigh of

frustration as he pushed his hands through his

unruly curls. When he'd told Ton that he loved

him the night before the other man had kissed him

so passionately and then made such tender love to

him that he knew what he was trying to say without him actually saying it. He'd been fine

with that but now hearing Ton actually say the

word love made him realize that he wanted to hear

the cowboy actually admit that he felt that way

with his words.

"Wow Tommy, unsatisfied much?" he muttered

to himself before sliding out of bed slowly and

walking towards the bathroom. What was wrong

with him? He'd told himself that there was no way

that he'd allow himself to fall in love with the

cowboy but after one of the most intense orgasms

of his life he'd just blurted it out. As memories of

the night before washed over him, Tommy

shivered and felt his cock swell. He groaned and turned on the hot water in the shower. With every

remembered caress, every remembered kiss, he felt

his shaft grow harder and his heart sped

up. Stepping into the flow of hot water, the steam

filling the room, he groaned again. Soaping up his

hands with the vanilla and cucumber scented body

wash that he'd had specially made, he ran his hands

over his torso and thighs, avoiding his leaking

cock. Turning to rinse his front, he hissed as his

dick made contact with the water and began to

wash his back and ass. As his fingers drifted

through his crease he remembered the feel of Ton's

tongue playing with his pink hole and his knees

weakened. Closing his eyes he knew that if he didn't come soon that he would be walking around

in a perpetual state of arousal and being around a

bunch of male wolf shifters, that wasn't such a

good idea.

Pouring the bath wash into his hands, he

wrapped one hand around his aching cock and then

drifted the fingers of his other hand to the crease of

his ass. He teased his hole with one finger as his

hand drifted up his shaft. He stuck the tip of one

finger in his ass as he stroked down his

erection. He pulled his hand up his length as he

pulled his finger out of his hole and as he stroked

one hand down, he thrust the finger of his other

hand in. His heartbeat sped up and he imagined Ton coming into the bathroom at that moment to

see him getting himself off in the shower and he

felt his erection grow in his hand. It wasn't long

before he had a rhythm going, his hand stroking

and twisting on his cock in symphony with the

thrusting of his fingers. For every introduction of

a new finger, he flicked the nail of his finger into

the slit at the head of his erection. Leaning against

the tiled wall he felt the tingle at the base of his

spine that signaled his impending orgasm.

He was grunting now, his breath stuttering out

of his chest, his eyes squeezed shut, his ass

clenching he three fingers that he had thrusting

inside of him, fucking himself as his other hand stroked and squeezed and pumped his red cock, the

head turning almost purple with the force of his

desire. At long last his mind conjured an image of

Ton, canines extended, leaning over him to bite

into his neck, marking him again, claiming him

once more and with wailing cry and a jerk of his

hips, his orgasm swept over him, stealing his

breath and knocking the strength from his

knees. He pulled his finger free from his hole and

let go of his still spurting erection and caught

himself on his hands and knees, the water

pounding down on his body as he shook under the

force of his orgasm. His breath was harsh as he

attempted to calm himself after the overpowering eruption and he chuckled after a minute.

"So apparently I've become a masochist or a

pain slut if the thought of Ton biting me is what

gets me off," he muttered to himself. He shook his

head and leaned over to grab the shampoo from

where it rested on the corner of the tub. Quickly

shampooing and conditioning his hair, he rinsed

and finally stood and turned off the

water. Squeezing the excess water out of his hair,

he was unaware of his mate, a huge grin of

satisfaction and pride on his face, wiping the traces

of his own orgasm off of his hand and slowly

walking back to their bed, unnoticed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tommy looked at himself in the mirror and

smiled. He may not be able to pull off cowboy,

but he could pull off drag-boy to perfection. He

walked out of the bathroom and smiled at Ton who

sat on the edge of the bed pulling on his boots.

Tilting out one hip, Tommy put his hands on his

hips and tilted his head to the side, his brand new

red Stetson pulled low over one eye, his jeans

molded perfectly to his thin frame, his red and

brown checkered shirt tied above his belly button,

brown boots with a small heel encased his feet and

he'd found the greatest belt buckle to put to complete his ensemble...one of a wolf howling at

the moon. He watched as Ton's eyes took in all of

this, cataloging how his hair had been pulled back

into a low ponytail, his eyes had been lined with a

thin brown line, his lashes buffed with mascara and

his lips shone with red lipstick. He'd decided to

not put on his bra so his shirt clung to his thin

frame and he hadn't tucked so his bulge was

displayed prominently. He knew that he looked

good but he was glad when Ton confirmed it, his

voice a sexy growl.

"Goddammit baby. You're the sexiest fucking

cowboy I've ever seen." Tommy watched as Ton's

face roved his body again and felt his cock beginning to stir.

"Thank you," he whispered. He swallowed

thickly as Ton stood up and prowled towards

him. They were supposed to be meeting Vet and

Richard outside by the corrals in five minutes so

that Tommy could choose a horse that he could

ride, but all thoughts of their previous obligations

flew out of his mind as he looked into his mate's

hungry gaze. He wanted Ton to ravish him. He

wanted the big man to rip the clothes from his

body and fuck him on the floor until he passed out,

just like the night before.

His breath rasped out of his chest harshly, his

eyes becoming heavy lidded as Ton knelt before him. He looked down at the other man and

groaned at the sight there. Tommy was a

dedicated bottom and he knew that when it came

to the bedroom he was happily submissive to his

larger, more dominant mate, but looking down at

his mate, watching as this bigger man, this more

powerful man knelt before him, offering him

pleasure, made him harder than he'd ever been

before.

Ton unbuckled his belt, unfastened his jeans

and had him unzipped and his aching cock pulled

out before he could draw his next breath. He felt

his limbs shake as Ton took him in hand and began

to lick at the head of his erection as if he were licking a dripping ice cream cone. Tommy snorted

mentally, well his cock was dripping like one, so

he guessed the analogy was correct. His attention

focused and his brain melted the moment he felt

Ton's lips close over his swollen cock.

He groaned and dropped his hands to Ton's

shoulders, gripping them tightly as he felt the wet

heat of his mate's mouth surround him. He felt

one of Ton's hands reach around his hip and drift

down to his clenching hole while the other hand

moved down to grab his balls. He felt Ton rolling

his balls around in his hand at the exact moment

that he pierced his clenching hole with one of his

thick fingers. Without thought he thrust into his mate's mouth, feeling the head of his cock slide

into the man's throat.

Twin groans echoed throughout the room and

he looked down and saw Ton looking back up at

him. When he saw the small nod and the wink

from the bigger man he knew that he'd been given

permission to thrust. So without thought, he

began thrusting into Ton's mouth and then back on

the two...no the three fingers that were fucking his

hole, he felt Ton pull down lightly on his balls

before squeezing them in his firm grasp and

grunted as he began to fuck his mate's mouth

faster. Ton took it all and Tommy knew that he'd

have to ask the man about his non-existent gag reflex. It was amazing.

Tommy felt his balls draw up close to his body

and he knew that he was about to blow his

load. "A-A-Ant," he panted as his hand moved to

the back of the other man's head and he thrust

deeper into Ton's throat and further back onto his

fingers. He saw Ton nod and with a delighted cry

he shot stream after stream of his seed down the

man's throat. He felt Ton move his head back

some to collect the rest of his come in his mouth

and once he'd grown soft in the other man's mouth,

Tommy felt Ton pull away and hurriedly unbuckle

his pants and pull down his boxers until his own

cock and balls were free. Tommy anticipated the moment that Ton shot his load all over him, so he

watched in fascination when Ton let the remainder

of Tommy's come and his own saliva dribble out of

his mouth and onto his own leaking cock.

He squealed when he felt Ton grab his legs and

quickly divest him of his left boot before pulling

his left leg free of his jeans. Ton lifted Tommy's

left leg in the air and leaning over placed his cock

at the smaller man's tight entrance. Tommy

watched in fascinated anticipation as he felt his

mate push into his body. He felt as the the ridge at

the head of Ton's cock grazed his prostate and he

groaned as his cock began to stir again. Ton

pulled back out slowly and Tommy groaned again. Out was so good...so good. He moaned as

Ton pushed back into him and heard as the other

man whispered his name. Ton began thrusting

into him, slow and deep, his strokes measured and

Tommy moaned as he felt every stroke deep within

him, so deep that it felt as if they were touching his

heart. It wasn't long before Ton had put both of

Tommy's legs over his shoulders and Tommy

yelled as he felt the man move even deeper within

him.

This was how he was going to die. His mate

was going to fuck him to death. He thrashed on

the floor, his head moving from side to side, his

hands clutching the carpet, Ton's shoulders, stroking his dick, pulling on his balls, a stream of

broken words and profanity vetting forth from his

lips. He could tell that Ton was close as well, the

bigger man's rhythm growing frantic and

uncoordinated. A few strokes later, Tommy felt

his back arch and his head went back as he

screamed out his cowboy's name. Distantly he

heard Ton's voice join his before he collapsed back

onto the floor, Ton falling forward on top of

him. Tommy knew that he should feel squished,

but he felt safe and comforted...loved.

That feeling disappeared quickly, however,

when he heard clapping and looked up to their

bedroom doorway where Richard and Vet stood clapping, wide grins on their faces.

"Now I see why you both watched us. That

was hot!" Richard said with a grin and Tommy

merely groaned in embarrassment.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Ton grinned widely at his alpha as the two

broad shouldered men followed their smaller mates

through the barn and past the horse stalls. Vet had

teased him mercilessly about being caught fucking

his mate on the floor, but Ton was

unapologetic. He was insatiable when it came to

Tommy. He'd be fucking the smaller man right

now if all of the ranch hands weren't out and

about. He looked up and eyed the hayloft with a

lascivious grin. Vet chuckled beside him.

"I remember how that was," the alpha said. Ton looked at him and raised his right

eyebrow in question. "When all you want to do is

fuck your mate on every surface, marking him

everywhere you can." Vet nodded with a grin and

turned his loving gaze back to his mate who had

thrown back his blonde head and was laughing at

something that Tommy had said. Ton watched as

his alpha's face softened, a small smile coming to

his face, and if asked, Ton would have sworn that

Vet's entire body radiated love in that moment. He

felt overwhelmed by it. The cloying scent of love,

arousal, contentment and happiness surrounded his

alpha and Ton felt an answering clench of yearning

form in his gut. "How did you know?" he whispered, not really

expecting an answer but hoping for one. He

stopped at the same moment that his alpha did and

watched as the man's face scrunched as if in

intense thought before clearing.

"How did I know that I loved my mate you

mean?" Vet asked for clarification. Unable to

speak past the lump in his throat, Ton merely

nodded. He watched as Vet looked over at

Richard again, another smile coming to his

face. "When the thought of him made me

smile. When I realized that the sun wouldn't shine

as bright if he weren't in my life. When his

happiness was the most important thing in the world to me. When my heart clenched just at the

sight of him. But more than that-" Vet looked

back at him and Ton felt paralyzed by the intense

look that the alpha wolf gave him, as if he were

looking past all of his barriers and into his very

soul. "The moment that I realized that I wanted to

be a better man for him and that because of him I

was a better man than I was before I met him, that

was when I realized that I loved him. No flaw that

he had, no quirk could ever make me stop loving

him and he knows that, so he's free to be himself

and he's free to love me and because he loves me

I'm free to be myself, knowing that no flaw that I

have and no quirk could ever make him stop loving me."

Ton's mouth went dry and he looked helplessly

at Tommy, unaware that his emotions showed in

every nuance of his face. That his scent thrummed

with the essence of love, desire, possessiveness,

care and acceptance, he smelled like a man...in

love with his mate.

"He told me that he loves me," he shared with

Vet, his voice a harsh whisper. He saw the older

man nod thoughtfully and wondered what he was

thinking. He didn't have to wait long, fortunately.

"And did you tell him that you loved him

back?" Vet asked and Ton swung wide eyes the

other man's way. "W-w-what? Who said I l-l-lo-loved him?" he

stuttered out the question and he watched as a huge

grin spread across his alpha's face.

"You did, by your reaction, just now. People

don't realize how telling their reactions are to an

important question. You love your mate but you

haven't told him," Vet shook his head in

disappointment. "I suggest you tell him soon, or

he's going to start thinking you don't feel that way

and then he's going to stop telling you and then one

day you'll wake up ready to say it but he won't be

there for you to say it to." With that Vet nodded

and then walked off to stand with the other two

men. Ton's eyes followed the other man until he stopped before he felt his eyes turn to look at

Tommy. He saw the smaller man smile and wave

at him and with a small smile he waved back.

Was Vet right? Did he love Tommy? And if

he did, in fact, love his mate, was he in danger of

losing him because he hadn't said the words?

Knowing that he didn't have the time to really

think about that he pushed the issue away mentally

into a corner of his mind, locking it in with a

padlock and walked over to join his mate and their

friends. He was going to help his mate choose a

horse, help him learn to ride, teach him how to

shoot a gun, find this Adam Quinn and deal with

him and then he'd worry about if he was in love with his mate or not.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tommy watched as Ton made his way over to

him, an intense look of confusion and frustration

line his face. He wondered what Vet had said to

his mate to make him appear so befuddled. He

opened his mouth to ask as Ton stopped beside

him, but found himself smiling in happiness

instead when the other man wrapped his arm

around him and kissed his temple. He sighed

softly. His questions could wait.

"So Tommy, have you decided which mare you want?" Vet asked from where he stood behind

Richard, his arms wrapped tightly around the

smaller man's waist.

Tommy looked at the other men in

confusion. Mare? What the hell was a mare? "A

mare? What's that? I thought I was supposed to

be picking out a horse. Like a stallion from the

movies," he questioned in confusion. He scowled

when the other three men exploded into laughter,

feeling slightly stupid. He hated feeling

stupid. He hated it even more that his mate was

joining in on the amusement at his

expense. Stiffening, he went to move away only

to feel Ton swing him around to face him and then putting his hands under his ass, he lifted him up

until they were eye to eye. Tommy wrapped his

legs around his cowboy's waist and his arms went

around his neck as Ton slowly walked forward to

the gate of the corral.

"Tommy, baby, no one is laughing at you,

we're laughing at your words. At how innocent

you seem. Richard was the same way when we

brought him out here to choose a horse. He said

almost exactly the same words. A mare is a

female horse. They are generally more gentle than

stallions. Stallions are known for being

aggressive, domineering creatures-" Ton explained.

"Like you?" Tommy interrupted cheekily and then giggled when Ton leaned forward and gently

nipped at his neck.

"Yes. Just like me. So it's better that you

learn how to ride a gentle horse first before we

even think about putting you on a stallion," Ton

finished explaining and Tommy grinned at

him mischievously.

"Well, I can always learn how to ride, by riding

you, you seem like one of the most aggressive and

dominant stallions that I know," Tommy

teased. He moaned when Ton leaned forward with

a low growl and took his lips in a hard and

punishing kiss. The kiss was all tongue, teeth and

lips and it wasn't long before Tommy couldn't hear the neighing of the horses, the yells, shouts and

conversations of the men who worked on the ranch

and the farm, Richard and Vet faded from view and

even the thought that Adam was out of prison and

had followed him to Texas couldn't diminish the

taste of his mate's mouth. Nothing could distract

him from the feel of his mate's broad shoulders

beneath his hands, the feel of his very large jean

clad erection rubbing against his own, or the feel

of his mate unbuckling his pants and lifting out his

cock with one hand while his other went over his

hip to squeeze his ass.

Even though they had both experienced such a

powerful orgasm just an hour ago, Tommy felt the flames of another one licking at the base of his

spine. His hands clutched at Ton's back and his

head, he thrust down towards Ton's hips, every

time the other man thrust up and he whined when

he felt one finger of Ton's hand slip into his hungry

hole. At that same moment Ton flicked the slit at

the top of Tommy's cock and he felt his orgasm

wash over him, tossing back his head he groaned

Ton's name loudly, his red Stetson falling off of his

head and to the ground. He felt Ton stiffen

moments later and felt the other man groan his

name from where his head had fallen forward into

his neck.

Slowly the sounds of the ranch returned to Tommy's buzzing ears and he slowly opened his

eyes. His eyes widened in horror and

embarrassment when he saw that no man on the

ranch moved. All of them were staring at him and

Ton. Some with amusement, most with lust

burning in their gazes.

"Ton? We just got off outside with everyone

watching!" he hissed to his mate and he felt his

mate grunt against his neck.

"Let 'em watch then. Don't bother me

none. They're just jealous and wishing that they

had you for their mate, but they don't because you

belong to me," Ton growled as he pulled

back. Tommy watched as he lifted his hand that he'd had wrapped around Tommy's cock and licked

off all of Tommy's seed. Tommy groaned and felt

his cock trying to stir again. Once his hand was

clean, Ton tucked Tommy's softened cock back

into his pants and set his clothes to rights before he

lifted the smaller man off of the corral fence and

adjusted himself in his pants, a very large wet spot

displayed in his jeans.

"Are you going to go change?" Tommy asked

with a quirk of his lips before turning to pick up

his fallen hat.

"Guess I better-" Ton said with a leer on his

face, "Wanna come help me?"

Tommy smiled and nodded, "I'd love to." He turned to look at Richard and Vet where the two

men stood still watching them their own erections

pressing against the fly of their jeans. "We'll be

right back, we're going to go home and change

Ant's clothes," he said with a grin. He watched as

Richard and Vet smiled back.

"I think that we should go and change Vet's

clothes also. How about we meet back here in say

an hour?" Richard said with chuckle. Tommy

looked up at Ton and watched as his eyes darkened

with arousal and another emotion, a deeper

emotion the squeezed his heart and caressed his

cock back to life.

"Better make it an hour and a half...maybe two, Ant and I need to take a shower," Tommy said

throwing a hint his mate's way. He saw Ton nod

from the corner of his eye and after Richard agreed

the two of them set off back to their home,

ignoring the applause that they got from everyone

else for the "fantastic show." He'd been telling

Richard the truth, they did need a shower and they

would take one, but not before they got dirty again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He watched them from the shadows of the

surrounding forest, his eyes narrow, a sneer on his

lips. Thoughts of malice, anger, possession, revenge and jealousy swirled around in his

brain. He tightened his fists and felt his nails dig

so far into his palm that droplets of blood began to

drip upon the ground. He'd watched that big ass

Neanderthal put his hands and his mouth all over

his man and he hadn't liked it one bit. Tommy

belonged to him. He'd always belonged to him

and he always would. No one else had the right to

touch him or to kiss him and especially not to fuck

him. That was his job.

Adam felt a slow grin of menace spread across

his face. It was time for him to make his

move. He would kill anyone who got in his

way. Tommy belonged to him and he wouldn't stop until he had the man chained up in his

basement, screaming for mercy and sobbing with

forced release...right where he belonged.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Tommy looked at the brown mare with fear, his

stomach roiling within him as he struggled not to

turn and run for the hills. Okay, so there weren't

any hills nearby, but he would certainly run for his

bedroom and hide underneath the covers.

"It's not going to bite you unless you do

something to piss it off," Ton whispered behind

him and he nodded slowly as he bit his lip.

"Yeah, but what if she gets pisses off just

because it's me on her back?" he asked in a soft

voice, trying to remember what Ton had said about not spooking the horse.

"This is the same mare that Richard was first

trained on. I think it would be fine for you," Ton

replied, amusement evident in his voice. Tommy

rolled his eyes and turned to face his mate,

planting his fists on his hips.

"There is a big difference between Richard and

I," he practically growled. He could see the flare

of annoyance in his mate's eyes and watched as the

other man squared his shoulders. Ton was fighting

his wolf and Tommy knew that. He knew that the

wolf was seeing insubordination in its mate and

wanted to bring him to heel underneath him, but he

didn't care right then. He was scared and his mate wasn't helping him by comparing him to Richard.

"And what is the difference between you and

Richard? Besides the fact that you're smaller and

more beautiful than Richard could even dream of

being?" Ton asked, his head slightly tilted to the

side in confusion. Tommy fought a blissful sigh at

his mate's sweet words and shook his head.

"Thank you for the compliment but

no. Richard is graceful. He's a dancer, that's sort

of a requirement. He would have a very easy time

flowing with the movement of the horse. Me? I

can't dance worth shit and I doubt that the horse

will take it easy on me if I cook for it or sing for it

or teach it how to wear women's clothing properly," he pointed out and heard the whine in

his voice...which he found perfectly justified. He

watched as Ton's lips tightened as if he were

struggling not to laugh and he grew even more

annoyed.

"Well, have you offered that to the

horse? Maybe she'd like that," Ton muttered

seconds before bursting into loud howls of

laughter. Tommy crossed his arms and glared at

his mate. Was he seriously finding this

amusing? What was amusing about this? Tommy

was terrified. Terrified of being on that horse. He

was scared of what would happen to him and what

he would do accidentally. He didn't know enough about horses, about riding horses to even begin to

sit on one, much less ride it.

Not for the first time he wished that Ton was

an alpha so that they could share a mental link as

well, just like Richard and Vet. It was something

exclusive to alphas and if Ton should ever become

the alpha of his own pack then he and Tommy

would have a mental link, but for now all they had

was a hyper awareness of each other, a need to

protect, care for, and love each other, although Ton

had yet to admit to feeling such a thing, and a

desire for each other. A fierce, aching desire. One

that overwhelmed all rational thought. They could

sense each other's feelings which was sort of good, but he wanted Ton to be able to see what he saw

whenever he looked up at that horse.

"What has you so scared beautiful? Why are

you so afraid of riding this horse?" Ton stepped

closer to him and bent low to speak directly into

his ear. Tommy shivered as his mate's warm

breath brushed against his neck, goose bumps

rising along his skin and his cock growing hard

behind the zipper of his jeans.

"Every time I look at this horse, all I see is me

falling off of it. I see me falling off, breaking my

arms, my legs, my back, my neck when I hit the

ground and then I see the horse getting spooked by

my cries of pain and her clomping down on top of me, killing me, as she's running away," Tommy

admitted softly. He waited for Ton's laughter and

when none came, he chanced a glance up at the

bigger man's face.

Ton didn't look amused or disappointed, he

looked...caring. His eyes had softened

considerably and he saw genuine caring there

for him. He was baffled at this response,

especially since he had been expecting another

one. He could have handled Ton being angry with

him, teasing him, being disappointed in him...they

were all emotions expressed by different people in

his life the day he'd come out as being gay and

then again when he'd come out as being a cross-dressing drag queen. But

this? This...caring? This look of possessiveness

and kind indulgence? What the hell was he

supposed to do with that?

He opened his mouth to make an innuendo

about riding Ton instead when Ton spoke and

shocked him into silence.

"I'll ride with you," the other man said.

Tommy stood there in a daze. No one had

ever volunteered to take care of him like that,

especially not in the face of all of his drama,

paranoias and fears. Richard was nice, loving

also, but Tommy knew that sometimes his best

friend got annoyed by the sound of "I can't do that" forever leaving Tommy's lips and Tommy always

felt bad about saying it, but who would understand

his irrational fears and still love him regardless? It

was why he'd been content with the short-term

affairs and week-long flings he'd found himself in

over the years. He'd never had a partner, much

less thought that he'd have a mate, someone that

fate had sat aside just for him. He was floored

with emotion.

His eyes filled with tears and he launched

himself into Ton's arms. "Thank you, thank you,

thank you," he muttered over and over again as he

kissed every inch of Ton's face and neck, his legs

wrapped around the other man's waist, his hands holding his face as he kissed him. He heard Ton

chuckle over his exuberant reaction and pulled

back to smile into his arms.

"If I had known that that was all it took to get

you to ride this damn horse, I would have offered a

fucking hour ago, when we first got out here," Ton

teased before setting Tommy down on his feet.

Tommy didn't even mind the teasing now and

just offered his mate a big grin. He was going to

ride a horse for the first time in his life...with his

mate. Someone who cared enough about him to

ride on the horse with him.

"Now, I'm going to put you on the horse first,

you just find your seat in the saddle, that's the place where you feel most comfortable, and then

I'll mount up behind you and we'll be off," Ton

said with a blush at his words. Tommy decided to

let him pass on that one, since he seemed to

already know what he'd said and his mind had

apparently already gone to that place...or at least

that's what the thick bulge straining the fabric of

his jeans hinted at.

Tommy walked back over to the horse with

determined strides and stood next to it. He felt

Ton kneel down next to him and offer to boost him

up into the saddle. Putting his right foot in the

stirrup, he lifted his left foot into Ton's hands and

then with a one-two bounce, lifted his leg up gracefully over the side of the horse and sat down

very close to the saddle horn, almost knocking his

testicles into the hard piece

of...leather? Plastic? Well, whatever the hell it

was, it would have hurt him badly if he'd sat down

on top of that.

His mind had so wandered that he didn't realize

that Ton was behind him until he felt the horse

shift and then felt Ton's arm wrap around his

middle and pull him back tightly into his

chest. Both men groaned at their close proximity

to each other and Tommy found himself wondering

what it would feel like to have Ton fuck him on the

back of a horse. "It's definitely something that we'll have to try

out," he heard Ton growl in a low voice full of

arousal and Tommy realized that he'd spoken

aloud. Blushing, he turned his head to the side

and kissed Ton deeply, their tongues dueling, that

feeling of being swept under the maelstrom that

was Ton rising over him again and it was with

great reluctance that he pulled his lips away from

the other man's and turned back to face forward.

He took a shuddering breath and felt Ton take

his own just moments later. He struggled to clear

his mind of its lust induced fog and cleared his

throat before speaking.

"So where are we riding to?" he questioned. He felt Ton's erection against his ass

and he struggled not to squirm

"I figured since this is your first time that we'd

just kinda ride around the corral. You know real

easy and gentle like. The saddity folks call that a

canter," Ton responded before pressing his booted

heels into the horse's flanks and setting them off at

a slow pace.

"A canter is what the other people call

it. What do you call it Ant?" Tommy asked, one

hand holding onto the saddle horn for dear life, the

other one held tightly to the arm that Ton had

wrapped around his waist, Ton's other hand held

the reigns. "Oh I don't know, a trot. Vet and Richard

started calling it a canter. I just say a slow, easy

ride," Ton responded.

Feeling a little more comfortable on the horse,

Tommy felt his body start to relax and so he

answered back cheekily, "Well, it'd be nice to have

a slow, easy ride for once, all you ever give me is

fast and hard ones."

"You sure aren't complaining when you're

shooting your load all over yourself," he heard

Ton's teasing reply.

Tommy never got a chance to respond because

at that moment three gunshots sounded in rapid

succession. One hit Ton in the leg, one hit the horse, Catherine, in her chest, killing her instantly

and the other ripped through Tommy's spinal

column.

All three bodies went down. First Catherine's

body tilted to the ground taking the bodies with

her, landing half on top of Tommy, who couldn't

move and wasn't breathing and half on Ton who

was screaming for help and attempting to free

himself so that he could shift and heal and then

take his mate to the hospital to be cared for, before

he returned to the woods to kill Adam Quinn

because he knew that it was him that had shot at

them.

Tommy's thoughts were a jumbled mess. He knew that Catherine was dead, but that he and Ton

were alive. He could hear Ton cussing up a blue

streak about "the damn bullet" in his leg, the horse

on top of him and his mate and the bullet lodged in

Tommy's spine. He also knew that he couldn't

move or feel his legs, though his arms and hands

were just fine, as was his head. He looked down

at his legs, his useless legs and then over at

Ton. Would the man still want him if he couldn't

walk anymore? What about having sex? What if

he was incapable of getting an erection? What if

he couldn't have an orgasm anymore?

These thoughts swirled through his head like a

tornado until finally the blessed darkness washed over him, taking away the thoughts, the fears and

most of all the sound of Ton's fear-filled profanity

and the sound of Richard's pleas to be

"okay." He'd never be okay again. And with that

last thought he closed his eyes and knew no more.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Tommy swayed his hips in time with the

music, his head thrown back as he sang "You and

I" by Lady Gaga at the top of his lungs. He wore a

tight black leather mini-skirt, an extremely low cut

silk white blouse, black high heels, his hair was

pulled up into an elegant up-do, with tendrils of his

black hair framing his face. His flawlessly,

make-up covered face. He looked stunning and he

knew that he did. As he continued to perform for

the audience he looked out over the faces that were there and saw that none of them seemed to be

enjoying his performance. They all seemed

horrified by him. He stumbled on the stage and

looked around wondering what was the problem

and saw a trail of blood all over the stage. He

froze mid lyric and gasped. Who was bleeding on

the stage? Looking around he realized that no one

was up there but him. Was he bleeding? But how

was that possible? He couldn't feel any pain or the

loss of any blood. Maybe it was a practical joke.

Looking back out at the audience he saw that

there were two men standing. He squinted his

eyes, the stage lights momentarily blinding

him. When his gaze cleared he saw himself looking into the hateful eyes of Adam

Quinn.....Adam Quinn holding a gun pointed at

Tommy. Turning his gaze to the other man, he

saw that it was Ton and he looked furious. The

only problem was he was looking at Tommy.

"Ant?" he questioned as he stepped forward,

his hand outstretched. He heard Adam pull release

the safety and felt fear ice his veins. He heard Ton

growl and he looked back at him, confused by his

reaction.

"Don't. You. Dare," Ton growled at him and

Tommy took a step back.

"Me? Dare what?" Tommy asked, his voice

frantic as he watched Adam take aim at him again. "Don't you dare let him take you away from

me," Ton said angrily.

Tommy shook his head. Surely Ton

understood that it wasn't his choice? Adam was

holding a gun. How was he supposed to fight

against a gun? He wasn't a wolf shifter. He

wasn't big and strong like his mate. He was a

human. A frail human. A small, cross-dressing

gay man. How the hell was he supposed to fight

against a bullet?

"Love," he heard Ton respond and his shocked

gaze swung to him.

"What?" he croaked out and he watched with

equal parts trepidation and hope as Ton walked up the steps to join him on stage. The bigger man

stopped in front of him and took his face in his

hands gently. He smiled down at him and placed a

gentle kiss on his forehead.

"Love. Didn't you say that you loved me?"

Ton asked and Tommy merely nodded. Ton

grinned, "Well, I love you too and you can't leave

me. I won't survive without you. So if you really

love me like you say you do then you'll fight to

stay with me. You'll fight for us. That love will

bring you back to me. So don't you dare let him

win."

Tommy nodded and lifted up on his toes to kiss

his mate. That speech had been the most beautiful and eloquent thing that he'd ever heard the cowboy

say. Richard must have coached him. He heard

Ton growl and giggled when he realized that the

other man must have understood his thoughts. He

opened his mouth when he heard Adam yell out

and heard the gun fire. His body jerked as if

shocked and he clung to Ton's neck.

"CLEAR!" he heard a distant voice yell

seconds before another jolt of electricity shot

through his body.

"C'mon baby, don't give up. Don't let him win.

Fight!" he heard Ton yelling at him. He nodded

and tried to speak again.

"CLEAR!" that voice sounded closer and Tommy felt another, stronger jolt of electricity

shock through his system.

"Come back to me! Tommy please!" Ton was

crying now. Why was Ton crying? And then

Tommy saw it. A bright light shone on one side of

the stage and Ton stood at the other side. The light

felt warm, comforting and inviting. But.....Ton

was waiting for him and Ton was crying. But the

light felt so good, it was welcoming him home and

he could hear his grandmother's voice. Without

another thought he took a step................

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ .........and with a deep breath opened his eyes to

the sounds of a siren, yelling voices, crying and

complete and utter chaos. What the hell was going

on?!

"BABY! You came back to me!" he heard Ton

yell as he gathered him into his arms. Tommy's

mind was filled with images of the strange dream

he'd had, the utter chaos surrounding him as pack

members, ranch hands and the like all ran around

barking orders at each other, and the events that led

to him lying on a gurney. Suddenly memories

assailed him. Ton talking him into riding a horse

by riding with him. He and Ton laughing and

teasing each other. The feeling of being watched. The sound of gunfire. The horse

falling, the searing pain in his back and then the

blissful feeling of nothingness.

"Ant?" his voice croaked as his hands clutched

his mate to him tightly. "Am I paralyzed

Ant? Baby? Answer me! Please!" he pleaded

with his mate when the other man stayed

quiet. He felt Ton's body shaking with sobs as he

lifted Tommy and sat on the gurney before pulling

his body into his lap. Tommy looked down and

realized that he couldn't move his legs, He felt

tears roll down his face before Ton even

responded.

"They won't know until we get you into a hospital, but it doesn't look good," Ton answered

ignoring the paramedics who tried to get him to

move so that they could get Tommy into an

ambulance.

"Will you still want me? Even though I can't

walk?" Tommy asked in a small voice as he gasped

for breath, his body convulsing in pain.

"Sir! We really need to get your...boyfriend to

a hospital!" one of the paramedics yelled at

Ton. Ton growled at the man and gently lowered

Tommy back to the gurney.

"He is my husband! My mate! My partner,"

Ton responded with an angry growl at the

paramedic, who jumped a bit at the aggressive tone before nodding and grabbing the head of the

gurney to assist his partner in getting Tommy into

the ambulance. Tommy locked eyes with Ton,

afraid that the man wouldn't be joining him in the

vehicle. Afraid that he wouldn't want him

anymore. He breathed a sigh of relief when Ton

climbed inside and took one of his hands while the

paramedic worked to make sure that he stayed

stabilized.

Ton leaned down, close to his ear, "Nothing in

this world would ever make me not want

you. You are my mate. For better or for

worse. In sickness and in health. To love, honor

and cherish. For richer or for poorer. Forever. You are mine and I will never let

you go," the bigger man told him, his words loving

and thick with emotion.

"Me too," Tommy responded with a smile

before he closed his eyes and tried to calm his

racing his thoughts and his pounding heart. He

had thought his life had been turned upside down

when he'd mated a wolf shifter...but that was

nothing compared to now. Would he be able to

handle being paralyzed and what about

Adam? Did anyone catch him or was he still out

there...waiting for his next chance to finish the

job? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Adam followed the ambulance with a grim

smile on his face. He hadn't meant to shoot

Tommy. Tommy was his baby. His love. He

would never do anything to seriously hurt

him. Oh, he'd have to rough Tommy up a few

times, so that he knew his place, but he would

never want him to die or to be paralyzed. The

bullets had been meant for the other man. The one

they called Ton. The huge, hulking mass of idiot

that thought he could take Tommy away from

him. He'd gotten off easy last time, but next time

he wouldn't miss. Next time Ton would be the one fighting for life while Adam took Tommy to

France with him...where he

belonged...forever...until death did they part.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

The next time that Tommy opened his eyes he

was in a hospital room, laying on a hospital bed,

attached to tubes and monitors. He tried moving

his legs again and when neither of them moved, he

cried softly. Those soft cries soon became harsh

sobs and that is how Ton found him when he

walked into the room. Tommy saw his mate enter

the room and then freeze at the sight of him in

tears, pounding on his useless legs and cursing up

a blue streak. He damned his parents, he damned

Adam, he damned himself…but he never damned Ton. Ton was innocent in all of this. He didn’t

deserve to be stuck with a cripple for the rest of his

life, mate or no mate.

He opened his mouth to tell Ton this when the

door opened again to admit a female doctor and

two nurses, both females and Tommy felt himself

beginning to smile, wondering if Ton had

something to do with the lack of a male presence

in his hospital attendants. He sniffled and glanced

overat Ton, chuckling when the other man didn’t

do anything but shrug. Tommy felt his

despondence and grief slowly begin to ease in the

face of Ton’s possessiveness and he turned to smile

at his doctor, who amazingly smiled back. Tommy had been expecting her to be a

homophobic asshole just like the paramedics but

perhaps he judged her too quickly.

“So you are Ton’s mate?” the doctor questioned

him as she stepped closer. Tommy’s eyes

widened and he looked at Ton.

“She knows?” he whispered in shock.

Everyone else in the room laughed, including the

nurses and Ton merely nodded.

“This is a private hospital. Available only to

members of the pack. I had the paramedics

redirect us here. They know what to do to help you get better, plus they understand my fierce need

to keep you safe and with me,” Ton explained

before blushing at an unsaid statement.

“And they understand why you wouldn’t want

me to have a male doctor or any male nurses

taking care of me,” Tommy pointed out with a

watery grin. The women in the room all laughed

and Ton’s blush deepened. The mood in the room

had lightened considerably and for a moment he’d

almost forgotten that he was paralyzed, that is until

the doctor cleared her throat to get his attention.

“Mr. Wilkins, I’m afraid that the bullet tore

through your spinal column. It didn’t tear it completely, but it did affect your ability to ever use

your legs again,” she stated. Tommy nodded,

swallowing thickly, holding out his hand for Ton

who was there immediately to take it. Tommy

looked back at the doctor as soon as Ton sat beside

him on the bed and gathered him into his arms.

She stood there with a smile on her face and

Tommy found himself growing angry with her

callous, unfeeling bedside manner. Couldn’t she

tell that he was hurting? That he was upset about

the loss of his ability to walk? To dance? To run

around and be chased by Ton? To ever learn how

to ride a fucking horse on his own? How dare she

smile at him while his world was crashing down on his head.

Tommy looked at her name tag, Dr. Amberton.

Well, he was about to give the good ole’ doctor a

wake-up call about having Tommy as a patient.

He didn’t care if she did look good enough to star

on “Grey’s Anatomy” or “Private Practice” she

was a lousy doctor. He opened his mouth to rip

her a new one when he felt Ton squeeze him a little

closer to his side and give a gentle nod towards the

doctor, a half smile on his face. Annoyed by

Ton’s smile as well, Tommy was about to chalk it

all up to the smiling in the face of heart-break to

just being a wolf shifter thing when Dr. Amberton

began speaking again. “This would be true if you were not mated to a

shifter, of course,” she stated with a smile.

Tommy felt his breath catch in his chest and he

narrowed his eyes at the doctor.

“Explain,” he said in a tone that brooked no

nonsense. He felt Ton stiffen beside him and

wondered what he’d done wrong. He gave a

mental shrug seconds later. He was just a

beautiful bit of gay fluff just waiting around for

someone to fight all his battles and rescue him all

the time. He was a man. He may like to dress as

a woman, but he was a man. True blue, through

and through. He gave a mental snort at his rhyme

and returned his attention to the doctor. “Since you are mated to a shifter, every time

that your mate claims you, you will be healed,” the

doctor said.

Tommy nodded his head, he remembered Luci

and Ton talking about that once before. It was

after he’d been jumped in the rest stop bathroom.

It was before he and Ton had mated, however, and

he thought he was already claimed.

“I thought that was a one-time thing. That I

was already claimed, I didn’t know that I’d have to

be claimed again,” Tommy stated in confusion.

He saw Ton’s face pale and realized that the older

man must think that he didn’t like to be claimed. He knew that he had to push that absurd thought

right out of the other man’s mind, immediately.

“Not that I don’t like being claimed. It was

amazing the first time and then the other times Ton

bit me were remarkable as well, but are you saying

that the whole claiming thing in an ongoing

process?”

“Tommy, the first time you are claimed you

receive a mating mark. That never changes. The

area were the mark is, however, becomes

extremely sensitive and a passion point. The wolf

inside of your mate will feel the need to

continuously connect with its mate. You, or rather

your spirit animal which is a wolf as well“ the doctor began explaining.

“Wait, so I’m a shifter too?” Tommy interrupted

her in confusion.

“No, we shifters are able to shift, or change into

our spirit animals, whereas our mates are only able

to feel them during the full moon and if you go too

long without mating with your mate. You will

start to feel restless. That’s your spirit wolf.

Only our mates have them, or they’re other shifters

like us,” the doctor continued to explain. “But

every time you are claimed, your mate is

introducing his saliva into your bloodstream and

fusing his wolf with your spirit wolf, it helps you to heal from almost any disease or injury and it ties

your life lines together. One of you dies, the other

one dies as well,” the doctor stated somberly and

Tommy felt his blood run cold.

Adam was out there looking for him and if he

caught Tommy he was going to fuck him and then

killhim. He couldn’t do that, so that Ton will

have a life and a chance at happiness should he

die, he knew that he could either find Adam first

and kill him, himself, or he could try to sever the

mating bond as soon as possible.

Tommy inhaled deeply and breathed in the

scent of his mate, he felt his cock stir as she continued to explain about how he would make a

smooth recovery although it would probably take a

while before he started to feel anything. He didn’t

care. All he wanted in that moment was for his

big strong mate to fuck him and claim him right

then. The rest of it could wait, the doctor, the

injury, the attack on packlands, how to find Adam

and get rid of him. The only thing that mattered

was getting Ton inside of him as soon as possible.

Tommy realized then that he’d made up his

mind. Nothing in the world would take him away

from his mate. Nothing.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Ton helped his mate into his chair and searched

for the rest of the items that they had acquired in

the week that Tommy had been admitted in the

shifter hospital. Ton knew that Tommy hated

the fact that he couldn’t walk on his own. He

knew that he hated the fact that he had to use a

wheelchair, but Ton knew it was temporary. Plus,

he was just grateful that his mate was still alive.

He could have died. Ton could have lost the most

important person in his world because of some

stupid bullet. He wouldn’t take that for granted. He wouldn’t bemoan the fact that his mate was

confined to a wheelchair, he’d glory in the fact that

he was still alive to complain about it.

He’d also, apparently, turn into a sappy and

sentimental female who waxed poetic about

gratitude and thankfulness. Ton rolled his eyes at

himself and pushed Tommy through the hospital

corridor.

“So whose idea was it to have a hospital just for

shifters?” Tommy asked as they made their way

towards the entrance. Ton nodded and greeted a

few pack members and hospital personnel before

answering his mate’s question, struggling to avoid answering the question immediately. Not because

he didn’t know, but because he was embarrassed.

“I sorta thought of it right after my parents

passed,” he admitted begrudgingly and grunted

when Tommy lowered his hands to the wheels of

the wheelchair to stop their forward movement.

“This was your idea Ant?” Tommy asked, his

voice filled with awe and wonder.

Ton shrugged. “Yeah, well, you know. My

parents died in a human hospital, the doctors there

didn’t know anything about shifter physiology or

our immune system. Sometimes some of the pack members would shift when they were sick and

have another pack member take them to the vet.

But with that only one part of you would be

treated, either your wolf side or your human side.

We needed a hospital that treated both sides of us,

simultaneously. So I sort of suggested it to Vet.

We have a scholarship program where we pay for

young pack members who are interested to go to

college and learn human medicine, they take

animal husbandry at the same time, on the side of

course, then they intern here. When they graduate

they work here. It’s worked out so far.”

Tommy was silent and Ton felt himself grow

concerned. Was his mate not pleased by what he’d done? Did he think that they shouldn’t have

separated themselves from humans? Ton began to

fret, he desperately wanted his mate to be proud of

him. To see him as something more than just a

cowboy, who just happened to be a wolf shifter.

“You are so amazing and so special Anton,” he

heard Tommy say and his breath caught in his

chest. Standing in front of his truck now, he

looked down at his mate and saw the smaller man

smiling up at him. “I am so lucky to have mated

you. Or to have had you mate me.”

Ton laughed as he watched Tommy flounder for

the right words. It wasn’t often that he got to see his self-assured mate flop around in the wind, but

now that he had, he found it enchanting.

Reaching down, he put his fingers over Tommy’s

lips to stop him from babbling and when he grew

silent, he kissed him. Slowly, deeply and

passionately. He heard Tommy grunt and wrap

his arms around his neck, pulling him down to his

level and he instead lifted his smaller man into his

arms.

Tommy had complained about the fact that he

was forced to wear “unattractive western attire”

instead of any of the “cute cowboy clothes” that he

bought at the mall on their way to Texas from New

York. Ton had merely laughed and told him that no one knew what went with what and no one

wanted to touch his bras, his falsies, his panties or

his makeup, so he’d just have to suffer until they

got home.

Opening the door to his truck he sat Tommy

down on the seat and finally released his lips from

the kiss that had continued in spite of all the

moving that they’d just done.

“Well I’m glad to know that I can still get and

erection,” Tommy pointed out with a rueful grin

and Ton chuckled.

“So am I,” he retorted. With a final kiss on his mate’s sweet lips he closed the door and then

turned to fold up the wheelchair and put it in the

truck bed. That done he walked around the back

of his truck and opened the door to climb in, his

keys in hand. Assailed by his mate’s scent he

didn’t even pick up on the smell and presence of

another human, a male, nonshifter….the same

scent that had been at their home only days before,

until it was too late.

He grabbed at his neck where the tranquilizer

had lodged itself and could tell from the burning

sensation that he felt in his gut that it was filled

with poison. He sank to the ground, Tommy’s

screams and tears of fear ripping through his chest and squeezing his heart. He struggled to climb

back into his truck, or to let Tommy know that

he’d be okay as soon as he shifted but a man, a tall,

broad shouldered blonde haired man stepped over

him to get into the truck. He knelt in front of him

and sneered at his expression of anger.

“You weak, sorry excuse for a man. Tommy

deserves better than you. He deserves me. I let

you taste the sweetness of him. Let you enjoy a

sample, but no more you understand? Tommy is

mine. MINE! I’ll kill you before I let you touch

him again,” Adam threatened.

Ton looked up as Tommy cried and pleaded for him to get up, pleaded for Adam to leave him

alone and prayed to the gods to save them. He

pulled his torso across the seat, reaching out a hand

to him. Declaring his love for him and begging

him not to die. He lifted his head, ignoring

Adam’s yelling at Tommy to “Shut up and stop all

of that foolish crying” and looked Tommy straight

in the eyes.

“I love you. You are my mate and nothing and

no one is going to take you away from me,” he

declared, then grunted when Adam’s booted foot

connected with his stomach.

“Shut up you filthy redneck. He’s mine. Besides, that tranquilizer is filled with enough

poison to take down a man your size, so you’ll be

dead soon andthat I’m sure will take Tommy away

from you,” Adam promised before climbing into

the truck, Ton’s keys in hand and after starting the

engine, pulled out of the parking space and sped

away. Not before Ton saw the look of

comprehension on Tommy’s face when he realized

what Ton had been trying to tell him. The

tranquilizer had enough poison to kill a human

male, his size, but it had little effect on a wolf

shifter.

Forcing his hand up, he pulled out the

tranquilizer and then shifted immediately feeling his clothes tear as he did so. Once his shift was

complete, he shook his head for a moment, rubbing

at his muzzle with his paw, the poison from before

now doing nothing but making his nose itch and

then scented the air. Detecting the smell of his

mate, he let out a howl of distress and a need for

help and knowing that the pack guards, security

and gammas would all hear it, took off in the

direction of his mate.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Adam was an idiot. Tommy didn’t know why

he hadn’t noticed it before, when they’d been

dating, but the arrogant, abusive man was a

fucking idiot. Tommy shook his head and scoffed

as Adam detailed his plans for them to fly to

France and live in anonymity forever, especially

since the cops were after him for his daring escape

from prison during the shift change. Tommy

wanted to laugh and point out that eventually

Adam was going to be caught and then killed,

either by the police or by a big angry wolf known as Ton.

Tommy had noticed the way that Ton had been

trying to get his attention. Tried to let him know

that the poison wouldn’t kill him because of his

shifter physiology. He also knew that Ton had

been calming him and letting him know that he

would find him and then he would kill Adam.

Tommy had felt somewhat reassured but not fully

calm because at the time he had no idea where

Adam was taking him, or if Ton would be able to

track them wherever they were going, but as he

watched Adam turn off the truck in front of the

abandoned cabin that sat at the border of Vet’s

ranch and Ross’s ranch, Tommy knew peace. He also knew that Adam was an idiot.

He chuckled when Adam climbed out of the

car. He giggled softly when he walked around

and opened Tommy’s door and he began laughing

when Adam carried him into the cabin like they

were newlyweds coming into their first home.

“What the hell are you laughing for? Are you

happy that I finally got you away from that fucking

redneck cowboy?” Adam growled as he sat

Tommy down on the couch in the room. He

looked down at the smaller man for a moment

before pulling back his fist and punching Tommy

in his jaw. Tommy cried out in pain as he felt himself fall

sideways onto the couch. He kept laughing

though, his laughter becoming slightly hysterical

as he thought of the fact that Ton was going to be

furious at Adam for bruising him. He grunted and

groaned in pain and agony as Adam continued to

throttle him. Punching him, spitting on him and

when he fell on the ground, kicking him in the

stomach. When Tommy was nothing but a big

bruise, his laughter turning into whimpers, Adam

stopped and pulled out his hard, leaking cock.

Tommy had a flashback then. He remembered

the first time that Adam had beaten him, he’d been

bleeding from the cuts all over his face and skin and Adam had stood up and pulled out his hard

cock, much as he did now and had bragged about

how putting Tommy in his place made him harder

than granite. Adam had jerked off onto Tommy’s

aching, bruised and bleeding flesh, his seed

covering the open wounds, cuts and gashes.

Tommy had screamed out in pain then, the burning

sensation overwhelming the initial pain. Adam

had merely laughed at him and then turned to walk

away.

Tommy blinked his eyes as he returned to the

present. He watched as Adam stroked his rather

large and hard cock, grunting and groaning as he

imagined coming over Tommy’s battered flesh. Tommy thought then of Ton. He belonged to Ton.

Ton was his mate. Ton was his everything. The

love of his life. Ton accepted him, never beat

him…and Ton said that he loved him.

With that thought in mind, Tommy reached out

and grabbed the heavy ceramic figurine that sat on

the coffee table and pulling himself painfully into a

seated position, he swung out with the figurine in

hand and heard Adam cry out in pain as it

connected with his cock. At the same time a loud

roar sounded from outside of the house seconds

before the door crashed in. Adam lay on the floor

clutching his broken shaft, crying out in agony and

Tommy pulled his broken body across the floor away from him. He knew that the large brown

wolf standing there was his mate. He also knew

that his mate was angry…furious with the

whimpering mass of man that was Adam and

Tommy didn’t want to be anywhere near him when

Ton sought retribution.

He turned his head when Ton leapt onto Adam,

his hands coming up to cover his ears as the

sounds of Adam’s cries sounded throughout the

entire room. He almost felt sorry for the other

man. Almost. He felt no remorse about the

punishment that the other man was receiving and

when the room finally got quiet he opened his eyes

and looked around. Standing in front of him was Vet, Richard, Howell, Michael, Alex, Ross and

yes, Ton. Tommy whimpered for his mate and

hissed when the bigger, very naked man lifted him

into his arms.

“You did pretty well for yourself there

Tommy,” Vet said with a grin. “We weren’t even

needed.”

Tommy grinned and then blushed when Ton

kissed his temple. “What? Did you think it was

inconceivable that I’d be able to take care of

myself because I’m a cross-dresser? I’ll have you

know, Adam is nothing compared to a bunch of

queens all fighting over the last tube of mascara,” Tommy teased and the everyone in the room

laughed.

They all turned then for the door to leave.

Richard making Vet promise to get someone to

come out and deal with the bloody carcass of horse

shit that was bleeding all over their love shack and

Vet promising to get right on it. Tommy felt Ton

pull him closer to his body and smiled. Looking

up into his mate’s shining gaze he kissed him

sweetly.

“I love you Ant,” he said with a grin.

“And I love you my beautiful little mate,” Ton replied before taking his lips in a sweet kiss.

EPILOGUE

“Ant!!! ANTON!!!” Tommy was screaming

for him and Ton dropped the bags of groceries that

he held in his arms and raced through the house to

the back room, afraid that the smaller man had

fallen out of his chair onto the ground once again.

It had been six months since Ton had killed

Adam. Six months since they’d reported his

mangled body to the authorities and had them

declare that he’d probably stalked Tommy to his

new home and met with a vicious wolf. The pack had had to be careful about running and hunting

through the woods for a few months, aware that

the local authorities were looking for a wolf or a

pack of wolves that would have attacked the

wandering man. After a few months with no wolf

sightings the sheriff had declared that the wolves

had “moved on” and everything had returned to

normal. Well, almost everything.

Ton had claimed Tommy…repeatedly but while

he’d regained some feeling in his legs when

touched, he was still unable to walk. Ton didn’t

mind, he still loved the sweet little man no matter

what, but Tommy minded and when Tommy didn’t

like something, everyone suffered for it. Ton raced into the room and saw his mate standing by

the bed, holding onto one of the bed posts, dressed

in a light blue babydoll nightie, light blue thong,

light blue heels, his hair curled around his

shoulders, his eyes gleaming, and his red lipsticked

lips pulled back into a wide smile. Ton stepped

forward before he stopped abruptly.

Wait….Tommy was STANDING?

“Oh my gosh baby!! You’re standing!!!” Ton

exclaimed as he lifted the smaller man into his

arms. He laughed with Tommy as he spun him

around the room, the two of them kissing

passionately and happily with joy. “Did this just happen today?” Ton asked as he

sat down on the edge of the bed, Tommy sitting in

his lap, his arms wrapped around him.

Tommy grinned shyly and shook his head, “I’ve

been able to move my legs for about a week now,

three days ago I could stand for a few seconds, but

remember two nights ago when I wore that red silk

lingerie nightgown with the split all the way up my

thigh and how much it turned you on?” he

questioned. Ton grinned and nodded. They’d

had about three orgasms…each.

“That was a fun night,” he grinned wolfishly

and Tommy giggled. “Well, the next morning I could stand for a lot

longer, and this morning I was able to take a few

steps,” Tommy said happily. Ton squeezed his

mate in his arms, so happy that fate had given him

this man to live with, take care of and to love for

all eternity.

“I love you so much and I’m so proud of you,”

he whispered, his voice thick with emotion.

Tommy grinned widely, he always loved it

when Ton said he loved him.

“I love you too. Now, enough with the

declarations. I want you to fuck me until I can run again,” Tommy declared with a laugh as Ton

flipped him over and set out to do just that.

Vicktor Alexander “Vic” (formerly V. Vee) wrote his first story at the age of 10 about his youngest sister and her destruction of the world…with her breath. Much to his youngest sister’s dismay the story was a hit and became the first story of a series all dealing with the planets that were destroyed by his siblings and their strange quirks and body odors. Vic moved on to horror stories and then to stories about his friends. Always one who pushed the edge of convention, it wasn’t long or much of a shock, before he was writing interracial historical romances. However, Vic realized that his heroes seemed much happier when they were hanging out with other guys and that was when he discovered the M/M genre.

Vic now enjoys writing about shifters, humanoids, cowboys, firemen, rent boys, fairies, elves, dancers, doctors, Doms, Subs, and anything else that catches his fancy, all sexy men falling in love with each other and having lots of naughty, dirty, man-on-man sex. He already has two books published about shape-shifting cowboys, a dancer and a cross-dresser: Unthinkable and Inconceivable, books One and Two of The Tate Pack Series. Vic is a huge fan of the “happily-everafter” ending but while his characters all ride off into the proverbial sunset, all sexually satisfied and in love, they all bear the scars of fighting for that love, just like in real life. No fluff writer here, Vic’s stories can be slightly gritty, dark and hard hitting, but the reason for that, is that love is sweeter when it’s been fought for and won. Never satisfied with only one genre, every book that Vic writes falls into more than one category and has each main character experiencing more than one orgasm.

Out and proud, Vic does not believe that love only comes in one form, one race, one gender and that not only is gender fluid, by sexuality as well. Vic loves to make people laugh and when he’s not writing, or rather, procrastinating in writing, he’s reading, playing the Sims 3, hanging out with his very supportive adopted family, being distracted from his writing by his partner Daniel and drooling over pictures of John Barrowman and Shemar Moore behind Daniel’s back.

And now a sneak peek at Unassumed: Book Three of the Tate Pack Series…….

Howell Lourge Marshall grew up knowing that he was different, long before he had his first shift into a large, white wolf. When all of the other boys in the orphanage where he grew up were having wet dreams over girls from their classes or women from the Victoria's Secret magazines that thy used to steal Howell grew up dreaming about a beautiful hybrid man with long blonde hair and blonde streaks. A man who was half woman and half man. Knowing that he had to be crazy, Howell pushed away all thoughts of the strange mystery man for years.

So imagine Howell's surprise when he goes on vacation and walks into a coffee shop, his first day in Las Vegas and sees the woman...er, man...from his dreams. When Howell approaches the man he's even more amazed because this man, the man whose image has been haunting his every dream for decades is not only deaf, but he's his mate as well.

Michael Prosace spent much of his life knowing that something was wrong with his body. More than being one of the only wolf shifters he knew who was deaf, because that brought it's own set of challenges, he always felt as if he was born into the wrong body. Taking steps to change that Michael took hormone shots and got breast implants and then stopped. Taking a job at the

Center for Homeless Deaf and Hearing Youths in Las Vegas, Nevada only days after his former pack attacked him and kicked him out, and moving his older sister, Katharina with him, he thought his life was complete.

Then Howell walked into the coffee shop. Strangely aroused and drawn to the mysterious stranger, Michael doesn't think twice about talking to him. Before long he's being asked out on a date, and that's okay too, because while he knows that Howell is his mate, he's pretty sure that the gorgeous black man doesn't necessarily want one. Then Howell tells Michael that he knows that they're mates, that he wants Michael, will stop at nothing to have him and the fun and the danger that seems to hover around certain members of the Tate Pack seems to spark up and Michael is having to worry less about being deaf and being trans* and more about letting down his guard and allowing Howell to claim him, before someone else does.

Excerpt:

"So is it fun to be a cowboy?" Michael asked, his hands moving in an almost smooth rhythm. Howell pulled his eyes away from Michael's cleavage when he noticed the other man's hands moving, and focused on the man in front of him.
"What was the question again?" Howell inquired, his hands moving slow and with no grace at all. He started clenching his teeth in that moment, in order to stop him from reaching across the table and pulling Michael into his lap.
Michael smirked and shifted on the seat before asking the question again, "I asked if it was fun to be a cowboy," he asked again, this time his hands moving slower, as if that was the reason that Howell hadn't first understood the question. Howell almost groaned in frustration when the smaller man folded his arms across his chest.

His gorgeous chest.

Howell didn't fully understand why Michael hadn't gone and gotten both surgeries done, or why he still referred to himself as Michael and as "he." Howell knew other transgenders and they were all very emphatic about being called the correct

pronoun. Michael didn't seem to be phased by it. Or maybe he was just really good at pretending. He had told Howell that getting the bottom surgery was just more money than he was willing to spend and that he felt like a woman now...or rather, he felt like he was supposed to feel, like he was finally in the right body.

And it was a beautiful body.

Noticing that Michael was laughing he looked around to see what was so funny before returning his attention back to his mate.

"What's so funny?" he asked with a grin, his fingers moving very quickly through the signs for the word.

"You. I be you forgot the question again, didn't you?" Michael asked with a chuckle, his hands moving quickly as he signed the question.

Howell groaned and slapped a hand to his forehead, loving the sound of Michael's giggle, who knew that a man into his 30s could make a noise like a teenage girl? Lifting his head Howell

looked at Michael again and raising his hands signed:
"What was the question again?" Adult Excerpt:

Howell pushed Michael up against the wall almost roughly, lowering his head and sniffing and licking all over the smaller man's neck. This, this was what he'd wanted since the moment that he'd picked the other man up. He sucked up a red mark on the side of Michael's neck, his wolf howling happily inside of him at the sight of another small sign of his claim on Michael. He reveled in the sound of Michael moaning, in the feel of the other man pressing his erection against Howell's, as Howell licked and nibbled his way down Michael's neck to his collarbone and then down to the smaller man's cleavage.

He made a mental note to tell Michael about how beautiful his breasts were...later, much later. He continued to lick and nibble his way down Michael's body, not taking off any clothes, they were in the coat room of a very sophisticated opera house. If they got caught by security, they wouldn't have time to do anything but run. With that thought in mind, Howell pushed up the bottom of Michael's dress and pulled down his mate's briefs, just enough so that the other man's cock and balls were out of their confinement. With a low, happy growl, Howell lowered his head and took in the head of Michael's cock,

swirling his tongue around the head over and over again before lowering his head down almost completely, feeling the head of Michael's cock enter his throat.

He moaned when he heard Michael's breath catch and and swallowed around the other man's cock.

"Oh. Oh God," he heard Michael's voice come out in a shuddering breath in his head and knew that his mate was about to come, very soon.

Lifting his head off of his mate's cock, Howell looked up at the beautiful blonde haired man that the fates had chosen for him, Thank you, he prayed to whatever deity was listening at the time. He watched as Tommy's eyes almost rolled into the back of his head and he whined in frustration.

"Suck my cock Howl, please," Michael pleaded, using his nickname for Howell as he spoke to him through their mind link.

Never a man who could deny his mate anything when he asked so prettily, Howell sucked Michael's cock beck into his mouth, deeply and then stuck three of his fingers into Michael's mouth.

He groaned as he watched Michael's mouth suck on his fingers and then pulled them out after they were sufficiently wet and coated with saliva.

Knowing that Michael would still be lubed and stretched from just a few hours before, Howell pushed two fingers deeply within his mate's ass, feeling the muscles stretch to
accommodate his large fingers. He heard Michael's low, throaty moan and he sucked on his man's cock harder and began to fuck his ass deeper and faster as he tried to bring him over the edge. He wanted to watch his fly off the edge of this cliff of arousal and then be there to catch him when he returned to Earth.

You can contact Vicktor Alexander at:

Email

Itsbostonredsoxthenbreathing@gmail.com

You can also follow his blog at: http://Vicktor-Alexander.blogspot.com

Or follow his random tweets at: http://www.twitter.com/VVeeB

He can also be found on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/vicktoralexander

The Tate Pack Series Unthinkable
Inconceivable

Coming Soon From The Tate Pack Series Unassumed
Impossible
Untouchable

Other Books Coming Soon From Vicktor: Wooing Elijah
Passions Hero: The Alpha King
Daddy’s Boy
The Dom Series: Mark Me
cUm: Chance, Utopia & Micah
The Virgin Special Forces: The Alpha Team Cowboys of Mercy Ranch: The Cowboy’s Fireman
Damien & Roman: Forever
Love’s Enslavement
The Agean Tasks
The Last Men on Earth: Discovery
Sacred Duets: Special Song