Page 17 of Forbidden

Ira pocketed the slip of paper and sighed. “That’s it, Iguess. Watch your backs. They tried to kill Wolf already. Sloan told them to avoid the club for now, but obviously some of them are too overzealous to listen. I wouldn’t go anywhere alone if I were you. And you two,” he said to Alex and Luke, “I’m pretty sure the guild will treat you the way they treat the halflings. Be careful out there.”

“You, too,” Luke said, drawing Malachi’s arm around his broad shoulders. “You’re like us now, too, aren’t you? You left the guild for Wolf.”

Ira’s stomach tossed with anxiety. “Yeah, I did.”

“Really?” Malachi asked curiously. “Just like that?” He shot a teasing grin at Luke. “It took you longer to warm up to me than that.”

Luke chortled, leaning into Malachi’s side. “Don’t pretend you didn’t like the challenge.”

Ira bit back a smile. “When you can see the future, certain things feel kind of inevitable. Wolf and I… were inevitable, I guess.” He sighed. For better or worse, there was no arguing with the things he’d seen in his visions. They could be happy, yes, but their lives wouldn’t be without hardship. He wasn’t sure he was ready for everything that would follow, now that the events of his visions had been set into motion. He had to have faith, he supposed, that everything would work out the way it was meant to.

Talon’s dark eyes glittered knowingly. “You don’t sound entirely happy about that.”

Wolf’s big hand stroked his back, and Ira drifted into his space, leaning against him. “I haven’t slept in twenty-four hours, and I just left everything I’ve ever known behind. Give me time.” It hadn’t fully sunk in yet. It probably wouldn’t for a while. In the meantime, he’d enjoy Wolf’s closeness until the panic set in.

“Ah.” Talon looked at Alex. “Your fragile human brains need time to process traumatic information.”

Alex beamed at him like he was a student who’d finally answered a question correctly. “Exactly.”

Wolf’s fingers curled around Ira’s shoulder, his hold firm and possessive. “Are you ready for me to take you home?” he asked lowly.

Ira’s eyelids were heavy, and his body felt weighed down. He nodded wearily. “There’s more, but it can wait. Some of it’s just gonna take time.”

“Yes, we’ve got time,” he agreed. Louder, to the others, he said, “I’m taking him to my place. We’ll talk more later.” He tossed a car key to Storm. “This is the key to that gray sedan out in the parking lot. It’s Ira’s. The guild owns it, and I don’t want them to see it if they send more goons out here to watch the club. I don’t want to give them any idea where he can be found. Move it somewhere far away from here, okay?”

“Will do, Wolf.”

They said their goodbyes, and Wolf guided Ira to the door, tucked snugly under his muscular arm.

“Do I need to carry you to the car?” he asked with amusement.

Ira huffed out a laugh. “No. I think I can stay on my feet long enough to make it.”

And he did, although as soon as he was buckled into Wolf’s passenger seat, he curled his arm against the window and passed out.

Ira woke slowly,warm and sated. He couldn’t remember the last time he slept so hard. The sound of his alarm normally accompanied his waking, but this morning all was quiet. The low humming air conditioner sent cool air rolling over his exposed skin, and he pressed closer to the heat at his back, pulling the blanket up to his ear. A rumble vibrated against his spine, and it all came flooding back to him.

Right. He wasn’t at home. He was at Wolf’s. Or rather, Wolf’s was now his new home.

He dimly recalled getting back to the apartment last night, leaning heavily on the halfling as the elevator shot them up to the fifth floor and spat them out in the dimly lit hallway. He hadn’t asked if Wolf minded sharing a bed with him, just shed his clothes on his way to the bedroom and collapsed on the incredibly comfortable mattress. He didn’t even remember pulling the blankets back, just the sensation of softness on his cheek followed by darkness.

Clearly, Wolfdidn’tmind sharing, as his body was curled around Ira’s, his arms wrapped around him like he was afraid Ira would try to run.

Ira didn’t want to run. Ira very much didn’t want to run.

Dark curtains hung over the only window, which was directly in front of Ira. Light crept around the edges of the thick fabric, barely penetrating the room. He’d never shared a bed with anyone before, and he was surprised by how comfortable he found it. The warmth of Wolf’s body and the rhythm of his breaths soothed Ira better than any of the meditative practices he’d tried over the years. There was no tension in his body, no worries on his mind, just the first day of forever. He couldn’t even recall why he’d been so resistant to this before. Nothing that felt this good could be a bad thing.

“How’d you sleep?” Wolf asked, his voice gravelly.

“Like the dead.” He arched, stretching his arms above his head and pointing his toes. “Your bed is extremely comfortable.”

Wolf chuckled. Big fingers slid up his chest, curling around his jaw and urging his head back as a mouth found the soft spot under his ear. Ira’s half-hard cock filled with blood so fast his head spun. He panted into the open air, one hand going to Wolf’s hand at his throat and the other falling to Wolf’s boxer-clad hip under the sheet.

“Wolf,” he moaned.

“Oh, good, that doesn’t sound like a no,” Wolf rumbled. “I could barely stand it—you walked into my apartment last night and started taking your clothes off on your way tomybedroom like you had no idea what the sight of you was doing to me.” He latched onto Ira’s neck, sucking hard.

Ira chuckled sheepishly. “Did I? I was so tired, I barely remember getting here.”

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