Page 13 of Kept
Kade’s hand drifted lower, knuckles brushing over ribs and sternum, learning the rise and fall of him, memorizing the planes of his body. Eli froze, caught between instinct and instinctual surrender.
But Kade's hand didn’t stop. It slid past his belly, over the waistband of his jeans.
Eli’s hips lifted on reflex, grinding against Kade’s hand through the denim, betraying the hard swell of his cock.
Kade’s palm pressed through denim with deliberate weight, firm, unhurried, a quiet command. Eli exhaled, a sound he had no right to make, half sob, half moan, letting it escape anyway. His head fell back, neck bare, fingers curling into the sheets as though they could anchor him against the wild pull of the wolf above him.
The sound Kade made in answer was low, pleased, a rumble that vibrated through Eli’s body. Breath ghosted along his ear, warm, insistent. His voice, just low enough, didn’t need to rise to take him apart.
“Look at you,” Kade murmured, gold eyes burning into him. “So fucking gorgeous.”
Eli’s eyes squeezed shut. He shouldn’t let it matter. Praise had always come with a hook. But his cock throbbed relentlessly at the words, stupid and honest and impossible to deny. Theapproval hit deep in his chest like a stamp, marking him in a way no one ever had.
He wanted it—the touch, the heat, the full weight of Kade’s presence—so badly it hurt to breathe.
Kade’s hand moved again, deliberate and steady, working over him with slow, firm pressure. The denim was frustrating, too much in the way yet not enough, each movement stoking the ache between Eli’s legs.
He couldn’t stay still. His hips lifted instinctively, matching Kade’s hands, responding to the control he’d longed for without realizing it. His hands grasped at the sheets, trying to find something solid, anything to hold onto besides the heat and dominance pressing into him.
A low, ragged noise crawled out of Eli’s throat when Kade pressed a little harder. Heat, weight, pressure—gift after gift. Kade’s body pressed down over him, heavy and unyielding, pressing his hardness into Eli’s hip as he pinned him to the bed.
The wolf’s quiet growl vibrated at his ear, feral and claiming, and Eli trembled, gasping, every nerve alive. He was strung tight, desperate, his cock hard and pulsing against the denim, aching under the weight of Kade pressing into him.
His legs spread on their own, opening for Kade. Thighs shook as they framed his hips, needy.
Kade’s breathing shifted, tight and controlled, the restraint straining at the edges. His hands caught Eli’s shirt and paused. His mouth moved slightly, eyes gold and feral. Ask. Obey. Both.
“All the way off,” Kade rumbled. No hesitation. Absolute.
Eli lifted his arms automatically. Not a command. An invitation he had been aching to accept.
The shirt slid up, over chest, over arms, over his head. By the time it left his fingers, they shook. Cool air hit his bare skin, and Kade’s hardness pressed into him, a solid, dangerous weight he could feel through every nerve. The world shrank to breath, heartbeat, and Kade’s heat pressing down over him.
Kade’s eyes roamed over him, slow, reverent, taking in every line: shoulders, ribs, chest, the dip at his hipbones, the taut, straining length beneath his hand. Kade looked like something starving that had decided to savor him—carefully, deliberately.
Kade leaned. His mouth found the soft bite of muscle at the base of Eli’s throat again and pressed a slow, open kiss there. His hand flattened over Eli’s sternum, heavy.
“Better,” Kade murmured in warm approval. His thumb stroked once over Eli’s nipple. The tiny bud tightened painfully fast. Eli flinched and then leaned into it, heat rushing up his neck.
“Eyes on me,” Kade added, and Eli dragged his gaze up. Gold. Close. The power of being looked at like that knocked him breathless. Kade’s mouth curved, a small, feral thing that wasn’t quite a smile. He traced the path his eyes had taken with his fingertips—collarbone, sternum, rib. His hands learned the edges, the hollows, the places where skin caught on bone.
Kade’s hands went lower. Not rushed. Not slow. Decisive. He palmed Eli through denim again, firmer this time, then eased off, testing what would make Eli chase. Eli arched up before he knew he was doing it.
“Say it,” Kade murmured against his pulse, voice a scrape of heat. Not what. Not how. The shape of the word told Eli both.
Eli’s throat worked. His instinct skittered. Don’t beg. Don’t be that boy. Don’t?—
“More,” he whispered. Shame and need mixed like smoke. He felt it burn. He breathed it out anyway. “Please.”
The sound Kade made sounded feral.
And Eli felt the same way.
6
This was insane.Absolutely, completely insane. Eli was in a werewolf’s room on the night of the mating run, utterly exposed, letting himself be touched, watched, claimed—and it felt like fire crawling through his veins. Every nerve screamed, every thought that should have warned him dissolved under heat and need. It was reckless, dangerous—and he couldn’t stop wanting it.
Kade’s fingers skimmed his ribs, light and deliberate, before settling at the waistband of his jeans.
