Page 101 of Mysteries, Menace, and Mates

“Are you hoping they’re male?”

“Not really.” Nicholas smiled. “You’ve already asked me that, remember? Whoever they are, we’ll love them, because they’re part of us, whether they’re male or female, shifter or human.” Another gentle kiss. “But right now, this isourtime.”

Jake hadn’t asked the question he’d been dying to get out, but he couldn’t wait a moment longer. “Are you okay?”

Nicholas blinked. “Why do you ask? Don’t I seem okay?”

“It was something Rael said, about Alec….”

He sighed. “I thought I’d seen everything. And then the universe shifts on its axis and reveals a little more, and….” His face tightened. “I can’t talk about this yet, all right? I need time too, to process it all. To make sense of it all, even though right now that feels like an impossible task.”

Jake kissed him on the lips. “When you’re ready, we can talk.”

Nicholas’s face glowed. “Thank you.”

Jake held him close. “Do you think we might find time for a vacation?”

He blinked. “Of course. Did you have anywhere specific in mind?”

“Actually? Yes. Somewhere an elephant wouldn’t be out of place.” He smiled. “I’ve always wanted to ride an elephant.” Nicholas chuckled, and Jake swatted him. “Get your mind out of the gutter. I’m not talking aboutthatkind of riding.” Then heat barreled through him when Nicholas’s breathing hitched, and Jake caught a glimpse of what was in his head. “Butyou’rethinking about it, aren’t you?”

“Not riding, exactly. But ever since we spoke last night, therehasbeen something on my mind.”

“What?” The word came out as a whisper.

“I’ll get to that in a minute.”

Then Nicholas was kissing him, touching him, and Jake couldn’t help but respond with equal passion. The feel of warm skin beneath his fingertips, the sight of Nicholas’s chest, covered in a dense mat of graying hair, some black still showing, the scent of him, something that hadn’t changed since they were both a lot younger.

“Now I know why we didn’t recognize each other as mates all those years ago,” Jake murmured between kisses.

“Hmm?” Nicholas chuckled. “You expect me to think when you’re playing with my nipples?”

“Oh, so you like that, huh? Good to know.” Jake closed the gap between them and flicked his tongue over the taut little nub, loving the shiver that rippled through his mate, the low moan that fell from his lips.

“You… you were saying?”

Jake stroked Nicholas’s neck. “We couldn’t have recognized each other because it wasn’t time. We were waiting for the prophecy to click into place, and that didn’t happen until Rael saw Dellan in that cage.” And then Jake lost his train of thought as Nicholas kissed his neck, tracing a line with his tongue from earlobe to collarbones, dipping into the hollow at the base of his throat. “Nowwho’s making it hard to think?”

“Is it?”

Jake blinked. “Huh?”

“Hard.”

Heat rushed through him, along with most of the blood in his body that seemed to be making a beeline for his cock.

Nicholas’s eyes focused on his. “Kneel, Jake, facing the headboard. In fact, you’d better hold on to it.”

Oh gods.

Jake moved slowly, the mounds of pillows against his stomach as he leaned forward to rest his arms on the wooden headboard, his breathing quickening. “Aren’t you going to tell me what’s on your mind?” His voice sounded raw.

“No. I thought I’d let my fingers do the talking.”

And suddenly, there were indeed warm fingers sliding under the hem of his shorts, teasing his asscheeks, the crease where ass met thigh, and then they were gone, replaced by fingernails raking up and down his sides. The mattress dipped, and Nicholas pressed his chest to Jake’s back, pulling him upright, his hand on Jake’s face as he tilted Jake’s head back to kiss his neck, his chin, and finally his lips.

Nicholas’s hand was on his chest, toying with Jake’s nipple, tweaking it, and Jake swore he felt that all the way through his body to his balls.

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