Page 232 of Golden Eagle

“Can you tell if it worked?” he asked Val, though he didn’t need to. Their link was as tangible as the weight of the clothes on his body. “Did we do it right?”

Val chuckled. “Yes, it worked. And I can tell that you already know it did.”

Sasha hugged Val with all the fervor and abandon of a child. “Thank you, Val.”

Val hugged him back with exquisite care, one hand on the back of his head. “You’re welcome, darling.”

“Thank you, Val,” Nikita echoed, more somber, but heavy with emotion.

Val lifted his head, and reached with one hand to stroke Nik’s cheek. “I never doubted you. Try not to doubt yourself so much.” Then he drew back from both of them. “I’ll leave you alone, now. And see you tomorrow – tonight?” He shrugged, grin going toothy. “My dears, it’s going to be adelight.”

Nikita snorted.

He blew them a kiss and slipped out, door closing quietly behind him.

They were alone, then. Bound.

Nikita planted his feet and was ready when Sasha whirled and launched across the scant foot between them. He caught him around the waist, and was smiling when Sasha kissed him.

He kissed him, and kissed him, and kissed him. “Nik,” he said every time he drew back, his hands holding Nikita’s face, his eyes luminous with wonder. “Nik.” Kiss. “Darling.” Kiss. “You really–” Kiss. “–did it.”

Nikita shifted a hand up to his nape, and gripped his falling-apart bun lightly, holding him off long enough to say, “Sashka. I need you to know that I’m never going to abuse this. That I won’t–”

Sasha leaned in, lids lowering, lips parting on a soft whine that went straight to Nik’s cock when the move tugged on his hair, and kissed him again. “You’re precious,” he murmured, and oh, that went to his cock, too.

Maybe, Nikita reasoned, they’d talked enough.

“Bed,” Sasha pleaded, tugging at his jacket, and that decided it.

They didn’t run there, but it was a near thing.

Sasha pushed Nik’s jacket off his shoulders, pushed up the hem of his shirt, and leaned in before Nik could even get it over his head, dragging his teeth across his chest, right over his pounding heart.

Nikita felt the barest scrape of a fang, and shuddered – and had an idea.

He ditched the shirt and caught Sasha with one hand splayed across his throat, urging his face up so he could press his lips to his forehead. And then, because temptation was too great, skimmed down the slope of his perfect nose and kissed his lips, too; slow, messy, and wet, while Sasha’s hands flexed helplessly against Nik’s ribs. When he pulled back, he said, “What do you think about being on top this time?”

Sasha’s pupils blew wide; a thin, eager whine sounded in his throat. Helikedthat idea. But he said, “Are you sure? I don’t…”

“Yes, I’m sure.” Nikita kissed him again, mouth, cheek, jaw, ear. Whispered, “I’ll walk you through it.”

Sasha pressed in close, undulating against him, and Nikita could feel how hard he was, how eager. He tucked his face into Nik’s throat and sucked at the skin there, pinching lightly with his teeth.Markinghim, Nik realized. A sweet pain, and then Sasha shifted to the other side and repeated the motion; deliberate and proprietary.

An alpha wolf, everyone kept saying, and that always seemed so odd, his sweet, bright Sasha, but here was the alpha now, staking a claim, wanting, grinding against the thigh that Nikita offered forward.

“I want – I want–”

“What do you want, baby?”

“Lie down. Please.”

He did, and Sasha took a moment to stare at him, chest heaving, gaze tracking over his face, and the fresh marks on his neck; his chest and stomach, lingering a moment on the bulge in the front of his jeans.

Nikita looked too, drinking in the sight of his aroused mate, and he could feel the binding; feel their mutual adoration.

Slowly, Sasha reached up and pulled the elastic from his hair, shook it out. It had gotten long, brushing the tops of his shoulders. He peeled off his sweater next, unbuttoned and pushed down his jeans; they were so tight he had to work his hips side-to-side to get them down, and that did beautiful things to the lean muscles of his belly.

Nikita reached for his own waistband, but Sasha said, “No, I want to.”

---