Ace nodded. “Right.” Zack remained strangely silent, leaving Ace to fill in the blanks.
“The change is hard enough on your body, but when your sexual needs start taking over…”
Wrong direction. “See, it’s better that we bond this way first, in our own skins. Hell, Kelly, I’ve wanted you from the moment I laid eyes on you. You’re so damned sexy.” He narrowed in on those full lips, his cock feeling their softness all over again.
“So why did you wait so long to make a move?”
“We -- I -- was afraid of hurting you. Sometimes when I get really excited, the beast comes out. With another woman, it wouldn’t matter so much.” Kelly visibly withdrew.
Another woman. Great going, Ace. He looked to Zack for help but couldn’t see his face over Kelly’s shoulder. “I’m not saying this right. Look, I haven’t been a saint these last years. But other women are easy. They don’t mean anything. I never got all that excited, if you want the truth. With you, though, it’s different.
“God, do you have any idea how hard it is to hide a hard-on? I have one around you all the time. I dream about you. I see you when I’m jacking off in the shower.”
Her mouth dropped open as she stared at him.
“When the mating heat hit, it was you I was thinking of.”
Zack rolled away and off the bed. “Be right back.” He disappeared from the bedroom.
Ace continued, enthralled with the wonder in Kelly’s baby blues. He hadn’t meant to tell her the truth, but he couldn’t stop himself. “The mating heat rules everything. You think craving sex is bad now, wait until you’re changed and in a full heat. You desire with your last breath, but you’re only drawn to Circs.” He swallowed hard, hoping she couldn’t see the awkwardness he felt. “I thought about you all the time. When I was in heat, it made the taking so much easier. Your face in front of mine. Your sexy smile, those killer eyes.” He stared at the rest of her, and he hardened again. “Those tits, that pussy.” His voice denigrated into a low growl.
“Ace,” she moaned his name. “You’re turning me on again. I shouldn’t still want sex, not after what we did.” She leaned over and kissed him, the first time she’d taken the initiative. His beast quivered with delight. “I can’t help it. You’re so sexy. And the thought of you and Zack together… I want you again. Right now.”
Ace rolled her to her back. He shoved her thighs wide, telling himself she hadn’t meant what she’d said. Zack and him together. He had a quick thought, of the way Zack had eventually taken over the fantasies Ace had of Kelly while they fucked, until Ace craved him as much as he craved the woman beneath him.
He pushed inside her slick folds. The feel of her sucking heat drowned out his capability for reflection, and they both moaned at the contact.
“You feel so tight around me.” He began thrusting in and out, slowly. “Kelly, it’s been so hard not to think about you. About us.” All of us. “Zack and I, we’ve waited so long.” He intentionally angled his pelvis so that he grazed her clit. Her breasts shook, taunting him with what was now his.
Ace sucked a rosy nipple into his mouth, licking and biting until she cried out his name. “Such pretty tits, Kelly. So big and suckable.” He laved attention on them until he had her screaming. Staring into her face as he pounded into her, he was about to blow when she yanked him in for a kiss.
Penetrating his mouth with her tongue, she pushed in and out, reminding him of how good it felt when Zack fucked him. His beast wanted him to remember, demanded that he acknowledge all of his mates as he played with Kelly. He moaned and fucked her harder, faster, until she cried out and clamped around him with incredible strength.
“Kelly, yes, baby, yes.” He kissed her as he came, letting her body milk him. Ace eventually relaxed into his climax, letting the ripples of pleasure leech away his fears and regrets. Damn, but it just kept getting better every time. The way it did with Zack.
Glancing over his shoulder and expecting to see his friend watching, since he clearly hadn’t joined them, Ace was surprised to see the room empty. Probably giving me some special time with Kelly. Zack always knows what I need, even when I don’t, Ace thought with warmth as he pulled Kelly close, feeling absolutely drained. Zack’s the best. No wonder I love the jerk.
Zack drove down the Garden State Parkway like the car was on fire. He didn’t give two shits about cops, other drivers, or Ace at the moment. The darkness of night soothed that part of him that wanted to curl into a ball and lick his wounds. And that sadness kick-started the anger already brewing within. A rage unlike any other filled him, and he knew if he didn’t get far away, he’d hurt someone he cared about. Probably the same person who didn’t care about him.
To hear Ace admit he thought about Kelly while Zack fucked him really hurt. Sure, Zack had fantasized about Kelly as well. It didn’t matter who he was with at the time; so long as the person was female, she wore Kelly’s face. But when he was with Ace, his focus shifted.
No one could replace Ace in his heart. No matter how many times the mating heat had forced him to seek pleasure with Roane and the others; it was always Ace he came back to.
Lately, they’d both satisfied each other. Zack had foolishly believed Ace had come to accept him as more than his beast. If not, why the hell had Ace jacked him off in his bedroom? Why blow him before they’d left? Was it simply lust? Was Ace exorcising him out of his blood to make room for Kelly?
An odd jealousy formed, but for whom, Zack wasn’t sure. He wanted Kelly just as much as Ace did. He cried out for her with every breath he took. But Ace had her. Ace was probably still fucking her, uncaring that Zack was gone. Because he had Kelly, Ace had no more need for Zack. She’d effectively excluded him, and she had no idea what she’d done.
Speeding toward an exit and uncaring of where it led, Zack wanted to move as far away from his heart as he could. Fuck Ace Two Bears. Zack’s vision blurred, making him even angrier. He could just hear Ace taunting him. Yeah, you’re a real man now. Crying like a fucking girl. Damned pussy. You should have been born with one. Rage and hurt mingled until Zack was blinded by it. He accelerated off the main road into a wooded area. Crashing through the barrier, the Wrangler smashed into a tree. Instinct was the only thing that saved him. He changed as he smashed through the windshield into a thick tree trunk.
Bone crunched, but the hard shell of his skull held firm. Trying to clear the haze in his mind, Zack stood up on shaky feet and clutched his side. He’d reopened the stitching in his wound and might have broken a rib. Dammit. The pain amped his temper.
Muttering under his breath, he stomped into the marsh surrounding the wreck of his car. The lateness of the hour and lack of moonlight helped camouflage him, but he really needed to avoid the roads until he changed back.
So much for maintaining control. Derrick was right. Women were trouble.
Things had been going so well with Ace. Then she’d come between them. Kelly, the woman he wanted as much as his next breath. Apparently, she found Ace as captivating as he did. Now he was ass out, both of his mates drawn to each other, but not to him.
Oh, Zack knew he’d made Kelly feel good. He could fuck like a stallion. But she hadn’t looked at him the way she’d looked at Ace, with love in her eyes.
Furious and not sure what to do about it, Zack tried to find a way out of the mess his life had become as he headed deeper into the marsh. He was a Circ. He couldn’t turn that off.
Every month he had to endure the mating heat. With Ace so close, yet so distant, Zack didn’t think he could handle forcing his friend to take him anymore. No matter how hard they came together when changed, Ace always resented it afterward. Zack had hoped Ace might change his mind, especially after their last few days together. But now, he didn’t know what to think.