The arm around him tightened, pulling Neve flush against a chest that burned. Neve’s body melted backwards on instinct, his hips pressing against the stranger’s thighs.
"Please," Neve breathed, voice cracked. "Help me."
The stranger’s other hand slid up his stomach, fingers splaying over his ribs. Warm breath ghosted across Neve’s ear.
"Tell me what you need."
Neve’s cock throbbed, untouched, leaking against his stomach. "Touch me," he gasped. "Kiss me... anything, just..."
The stranger turned him around.
Neve got a flash of dark hair, broad shoulders, eyes that caught the moonlight but gave nothing away. Then the stranger’s mouth was on his.
Lips parted against his, tongue sliding in without asking permission. Neve moaned into it, mmm..., his hands gripping the stranger’s body, pulling him closer. The stranger bit his lower lip, tugged it, then kissed deeper, wetter, until Neve could barely breathe.
"More," Neve whimpered against his lips.
The stranger’s mouth travelled down. Across his jaw. Down the column of his throat. Neve’s head fell back, exposing more, and the stranger took the invitation. Lips closed over his pulse point, sucked hard, and Neve cried out, "Ah...!"
"Shh," the stranger murmured against his skin, breath hot. "Others are sleeping."
"I don’t care," Neve whispered, but his voice was raw, breaking. "I don’t care who hears."
The stranger chuckled low in his throat. A sound that sent a shiver straight to Neve’s groin.
"Your scent is driving me crazy..."
The stranger’s mouth continued downward across his collarbone. Tongue traced the divot at the base of his throat. Then lower, over his chest. The stranger paused at his nipple, licked it, sucked it until it was hard and aching, then moved to the other. Neve’s fingers tangled in the stranger’s hair, "Fuck—", tugging, not sure whether he wanted more or less.
Then the stranger dropped.
A sudden bending of knees. Warm hands sliding down Neve’s sides, his hips, fingers hooking trailing around his waistline. Neve opened his eyes in time to see the stranger look up at him, mouth inches from his cock, which strained against the fabric.
"Please," Neve said again, because it was the only word left.
Neve’s cock sprang free, erect and slick with precum. The night air hit it and Neve gasped. Then the stranger’s mouth closed over him.
Yes!
Hot. Wet. The tongue wrapped around the shaft, sliding from base to tip, and Neve’s knees buckled. The stranger’s hands caught his hips, held him steady, and took him deeper. Neve felt the back of the stranger’s throat, felt him swallow around the head, and a guttural moan tore out of him.
"Ah, ah, fuck! That’s—"
The stranger pulled off, just the tip in his mouth, and looked up with dark eyes. "You taste as good as you smell."
The words, rough and low, hit Neve like a second touch.
"Don’t stop," Neve begged.
The stranger smiled against his skin, then took him again. Deeper. Faster. The suction was relentless, tongue working the underside in long, flat strokes. Neve’s hips started to move on their own, fucking into that wet heat, and the stranger let him, matching his rhythm.
"Mm... ngh... I’m close," Neve gasped. "I’m gonna—"
The stranger pulled off.
Neve cried out, empty and aching. "Why did you—"
The stranger stood, turning Neve around in one smooth motion. Neve’s hands hit the wall of the hut. Rough bark scraped his palms. The stranger pressed against his back, hard length grinding against Neve’s bare ass through his animal skin.
"I’m not done," the stranger whispered, lips brushing his ear. "Hold still."
Neve tried. He really tried.
Teeth sank into the side of his neck.
Hard. Deep enough to break skin. The pain flared sharp and bright, and Neve screamed... a raw, broken sound that dissolved into a moan as the pleasure curved through the pain. The stranger didn’t let go. He held the bite, tongue pressing into the wound, lapping at the blood.
Neve came.
He came with no hands on his cock. Just the bite, the pressure, the tongue and his orgasm ripped through him, semen spattering against the wall. His body convulsed, and the stranger held him through it, one arm wrapped around his waist.
When Neve sagged, the stranger lowered him to the ground.
Neve lay on his back, panting, chest heaving. The stranger knelt over him, expression still shadowed. A thumb brushed across Neve’s cheekbone.
"You’re mine now," the stranger said.
A warmth spread around Neve’s neck. Like a ribbon being wrapped, searing into skin. He felt it coil—tendrils of heat moving in patterns he couldn’t see. His hand lifted, trembling, to touch it.
{Mild heat ended!}
{Host is now unconscious. Sweet dreams!}
"What—" Neve started.
Neve became conscious slowly.
.
.
Gray light. Cold air. The smell of straw and morning dew coming through the open doorway.
He was inside, back on the mat, a thin blanket pulled over him that hadn’t been there before. He stared at the ceiling for a moment, putting things together in the order they had happened.
He remembered the heat, going outside. The arm around him. The voice against his ear.
Everything after that was fragments.
He remembered warmth. Hands that knew exactly where to be. Something cool pressed against his neck that had burned slightly, then settled.
He reached up and touched his neck.
He could feel it. A pattern of lines he could feel with his fingertips, running in a complete circle around his throat. He couldn’t see it but he traced it slowly with two fingers.
’That wasn’t there before,’ he thought.
Across the room, Cael was still on his side facing the wall, breathing steadily. Kael’s sleeping spot was empty.
Neve sat up carefully and groaned. His body felt wrung out and heavy and his neck was warm where the mark was.
It wasn’t painful, but it was just there.
He was still working out how he felt about that when Kael walked in and stopped in the entrance.
He stared at Neve.
Then pointed at his neck.
"Who marked you?"
Neve blinked. "What?"
Kael crossed the room and grabbed Neve’s chin without asking, turning his head to the side. His fingers pressed along the mark carefully. Tracing the pattern. His expression was doing something complicated.
"Swirling lines," he said quietly. "Like full collar." He let go of Neve’s chin. "Someone claimed you last night. Who was it?"
Neve opened his mouth and closed it.
He didn’t know. That was the honest answer. He only remembered the dark hair, broad shoulders, hands that had been certain without being rough. A voice low against his ear. He hadn’t seen a face or heard a name. He had been too far into the heat to ask and too relieved to care.
"Someone," Neve said slowly, "who showed up when I needed help."
Kael looked at him for a long moment.
Then he stood up and walked to his corner and sat down with his back against the wall and his tail very still behind him.
"He’ll come back," Kael said. "Whoever it was. They always come back for what they’ve marked."
Neve touched the ring around his throat again.
The system chimed once, soft and bright.
{Bond mark detected. New mate unlocked. Identity: Unknown.}
{Mate slot 1/10 filled.}
Neve stared at the notification.
Cael shifted behind him.
Neve dropped his hand from his neck immediately.
Cael sat up slowly and looked at Neve. His eyes moved to Neve’s neck and stopped.
The silence that followed was very specific.
"Neve," Cael said. His voice was completely flat. "What is on your neck?"
Neve opened his mouth.
"Who," Cael said, "put that there?"
Neve looked at him while Kael looked somewhere else.