Page 43 of Mated to the Human: Volume One

With an appreciative hum, Cane slid a finger into him, thrusting in and out before he quickly added a second.

Bracing his arms, Jake rocked back into the rhythm Cane was building with those questing fingers. Cane’s other hand never stopped moving. He massaged Jake’s ass cheek, ran blunt nails up the back of his thigh, and reached between his legs to give his cock a stroke. Jake was burning up, every touch like molten lava sliding beneath his skin and culminating in the ache in his balls. “Cane,” he begged, shame deserting him. “Please.”

Leaning close, Cane cooed at him, pressing hot kisses to Jake’s lower back as he added a third finger. The burn of it was exquisite, pushing him ever closer to the highest edge he’d ever fallen from.

“Fuck, Cane.” Jake pressed his forehead harder against the mattress, hands fisted, trying desperately to keep some kind of control.

Finally, Cane took pity on him, pulling his fingers free. The snap of the lube cap was loud in a room filled with only their panting breaths. The calloused palm of Cane’s hand pressed to his lower back as the blunt head of Cane’s cock kissed his entrance. He took a deep breath, and as he did, Cane slid forward.

Goddamn, but he’d been so ready for this. For Cane to be filling him up. The initial push stole his breath and lit his every sense on fire until all that was left was Cane.

“Breathe, baby,” Cane whispered, giving tiny little thrusts, that hand still steady on Jake’s back, anchoring him to earth.

Jake sucked in a breath and pressed himself back, relishing the feel of Cane sliding within him. His ass met the front of Cane’s body, punching a harsh breath out of Cane.

“That’s it,” Cane said, his short thrusts turning long and deep.

He hit that spot inside Jake that made the world melt away in a swirl of color. Bracing, Jake let his forehead hit the mattress and just held on. Between each perfect thrust and Cane’s whispered endearments, he was lost to a pleasure he’d never experienced before.

His orgasm rolled over him like a thunderhead—enormous, powerful, all-consuming. When his arms gave out, Cane followed him down, thrusting twice more before his own orgasm overtook him. He stilled, hands braced on either side of Jake’s shoulders and quivered, circling his hips slowly and sending little aftershocks through Jake’s trembling body.

Cane settled on top of him, still buried inside, and pressed gentle kisses along his shoulder blades.

“I think you killed me,” Jake croaked, voice ragged.

A breathy chuckle slid over his skin. “No more than you killed me.” Cane kissed him again and lifted up. Jake was happy to drift when Cane moved off the bed. A moment later, he heard the faucet turn on in the bathroom then Cane was back with a steady hand on his hip and a warm, damp cloth to clean them both up.

Jake rolled over and scooted out of his own wet spot. Cane grinned at him as he moved the cloth over Jake’s sensitive cock, making him twitch.

“I think you’re enjoying that a little too much,” Jake said. He couldn’t even muster the energy to pretend to complain. He felt raw, tender in a way sex had never left him, and the feeling only intensified with the soft look in Cane’s eyes.

Cane tossed the cloth away and climbed in next to him. They instantly reached for the other, bodies melding together, pressed chest to chest.

They kissed slowly, no rush and banked fire.

Pulling back, Cane licked his lips, a sweet sort of hesitance taking over his face. “That was…”

Jake smiled, the small, soft one he knew was Cane’s alone. “I know.”

Returning the smile, Cane settled down, pulling Jake closer until there was no space between them and their foreheads rested together on the same pillow.

Jake closed his eyes, the rest of his life stretching out in Cane’s heartbeat pressed against his chest and their shared breath whispering over his lips.

11

“I want to start by thanking you all for coming and with my apologies that we even need to have a meeting like this at all.” Lenette stood at the head of the conference table. “I know that more danger in your lives isn’t what you anticipated receiving when you signed your mating contracts.”

Jake felt Cane’s hand settle on his leg beneath the table. They were in the basement of the Paranormal Council building in a conference room without windows and that he’d watched the hellhounds sweep for any kind of listening or recording devices before they’d even sat down. Around the table sat Derek and Hollis, Merrick and Leander, Cane and himself. There were three other hellhound enforcers in the room aside from Derek—Knox, Bacchus, and Rook. They stood in parade rest along the wall.

“It has come to our attention that HAP may be under the direction and control of the police commissioner of this city.”

He’d already known that because Hollis had confided it to Cane, wanting to warn them. Now, Hollis looked down at his lap and it didn’t take an empath to realize he felt some measure of responsibility because of his blood tie to the commissioner. Jake couldn’t think of the man as Hollis’s family. He didn’t deserve that title.

Cane reached over and squeezed Hollis’s shoulder. Hollis shot him a small smile before he leaned into Derek, resting his temple against the hellhound’s shoulder. Derek pressed a kiss to the top of Hollis’s head and wrapped an arm around him.

“Hollis,” Lenette said, voice gentle. “You take no blame in this. Without your forthrightness, we may never have discovered his connection.”

Sitting forward and leaning his elbows on the table, Leander asked, “What do you want us to do?”

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