Exodus (5 page)

“I know I liked it when you manhandled me, sure,” Rivvie said. “I also like taking control. I go both ways like that.” He didn’t make a move toward Matt, though.

Matt was relieved and disappointed—and confused. “What do you mean?”

Rivvie stretched his arms over his head, making a whole bunch of muscles ripple. “I mean, I like to get kinky sometimes. A spanking can be hot to give, and I bet if you weren’t angry at the world, you’d give a good one, too. I don’t think I’d want anyone who was pissed off hitting me, though. Seems dangerous.”

Matt couldn’t even say he wouldn’t do such a thing, not after how he’d acted, jumping on Rivvie and all.

“A little pain with pleasure feels good,” Rivvie continued. “Although I didn’t get to have the whole pleasure part of the experience earlier, I did get some feel-good parts along with a bit of pain when you pulled my hair or bit my lips—or neck.” Rivvie touched a spot there.

Matt noticed the dark bruise beneath Rivvie’s ear. “Shit. Shit! I—”

“If you say you’re sorry, I will have to get up and think of a way to punish you for hurting my ego.” Rivvie’s tone made it plain he was joking, as did the way he winked at Matt. “It all felt good, except for me not getting to come. That part didn’t feel good, exactly, but I liked it. Orgasm denial as foreplay. Hadn’t thought of blue balls as being enjoyable before.”

The scary-enticing spanking threat seemed to have been forgotten. Matt didn’t feel so inclined to run away. He did feel strangely disappointed. That was something he was going to choose to ignore.

“I left you without relief,” Matt said, taking a step back toward the bed. His palms began to sweat. Was he seriously considering touching another man’s penis? And why was his mouth watering?

Rivvie’s look of surprise was endearing. “It’s okay. I can take care of it.”

Matt stopped his approach. “Alone?” He paused for a second. “Or is there someone you’ve got in mind to help you out?” Don’t get angry, he warned himself.
Don’t be an asshole again.

Rivvie laughed. “I was going to jack off. That’s all I meant. I don’t have anyone I’m messing around with right now, though I guess me and Jermaine tangle when we’re both really desperate and no one else is interested.”

“Jermaine.” Matt ran through the shifters he’d seen before the right one popped into his mind—a burly, barrel-chested older man with the beginning of gray in his hair. He was roughly handsome, and Matt hated him as of that moment. “He’s too old for you.”

“No he isn’t,” Rivvie argued. “He’s only twenty or so years my senior, and we’re both adults. Nothing wrong with us hooking up.”

“Yes, there is,” Matt said, working hard to keep his tone level.

“There is?” Rivvie scowled and shook his head. “No, there isn’t. Jermaine is alone, and I’m alone—”

“I’m. Right.
Here
.” Matt refused to stomp his foot again like some immature idiot, but man, he didn’t like the idea of Rivvie being with another man—or woman, or anyone but him.

The realization made Matt jolt as if he’d been poked with a sharp stick. What would his parents say if he had a relationship with Rivvie? They hadn’t cared that Aaron was gay, but Matt had always had sex with women. Would they be disappointed in him?

“What are you thinking?” Rivvie asked. “I wonder. It doesn’t look like it’s anything good.”

Matt shook his head. “I don’t know why I can’t just
be
.”

“You can. Come sit on the bed and be with me.” Rivvie patted the mattress. “You don’t have to touch me. I won’t even jack off if it’s going to bother you.”

“No. I mean…don’t say that,” Matt clarified because for one moment Rivvie looked stricken and Matt didn’t want Rivvie to be hurt anymore, especially not by him. Matt walked the short distance back to the bed. “I can do this.”

Rivvie huffed and pulled the blanket up to his chest. “Wouldn’t want to put you out.” He rolled on his side, facing away from Matt.

Matt knelt on the bed, and instead of anger, he felt a surprising tenderness in him as he reached for Rivvie, touching his arm. “I didn’t mean it like that. I know I’ve been a jerk. I’ve said so, but I’m trying, Riv. I really am. This is all scary to me, and it’s new and huge. Everything’s changed, all the things I grew up knowing and doing and seeing, they’re all different now, even the people. They’re wearing less clothes and that’s not good in all cases.” He laughed. “I mean, we don’t seem to age as well as shifters do. That’s not the point. The point is, I’m asking you… Please be patient with me. Don’t get offended every time I open my mouth. I’m trying. I’m really,
really
trying.”

Rivvie was silent and still for so long that Matt expected a rejection when Rivvie finally looked at him.

“I can do that,” Rivvie said, “but I need more from you than just words.”

Matt’s hand shook as he ran it down to Rivvie’s hip. “I’m going to—”

“Not that,” Rivvie cut in. “I mean, yes, that, but there’s something else, too.” Rivvie turned onto his back.

Matt’s hand was now right beside Rivvie’s cock. “Oh?” Matt squeaked out. He dared to wriggle his fingers a bit. Rivvie’s pubic hair was springy under the thin blanket.

“You didn’t like thinking of me with another man,” Rivvie said tentatively.

“I won’t be with another man,” Matt assured him.

Rivvie placed his hand on top of Matt’s. “Look at me.”

Matt was staring at the thick length he wanted to touch, trying to imagine what it looked like fully erect under the cover. He forced himself to raise his gaze to Rivvie’s. “Yeah?”

Rivvie swallowed noisily. He looked equal parts scared and determined. “No women, either. At least not where I’ll hear about it. Please. If you…if you must, ask her not to brag.”

“At least not—” Matt closed his mouth. If he’d had any ignorance to how much he’d hurt Rivvie by dicking around, that ignorance was gone now.
Gods above, I am the biggest cunt!
But they hadn’t been together. Matt hadn’t cheated or anything like that. It didn’t matter. He felt as guilty as if he had. “I won’t, okay?” He moved their hands over the base of Rivvie’s cock. “I won’t fuck anyone else. We’ll give this a shot, just…” He wanted to ask Rivvie if they could keep it a secret, at least for a little while. That made it seem like a dirty, sordid thing they’d be doing together, and that felt wrong.

Rivvie wiggled his hips, his eyes rolling a little. “I can give you time,” he said after moving again. “If that’s what you’re scared to ask for. You don’t have to run shouting it through the pack.”

“I’m sorry. I’m a coward, like you said,” Matt confessed, running his hand up and down Rivvie’s shaft.

“Not a coward,” Rivvie panted out. “Scared. This is…this is new. Can we stop talking now?” he whined, hitching one leg up.

Matt licked his lips. Was he finally going to get to see Rivvie’s cock? “Yeah. Covers off.”

Rivvie let go of his hand and Matt whipped the blanket aside. Rivvie’s cock was proportionate to his size, at the very least. It was long, thick and had the fattest head on it Matt had ever seen—and just because he hadn’t been with a man didn’t mean he hadn’t seen plenty of them naked. They’d often taken group baths in the river at the village. He’d seen dick.

But none like Rivvie’s. “Oh, gods, look at you. It’s no wonder I’ve got an inferiority complex! You’ve got to be at least nine inches, and I can’t touch my finger and thumb together around it!”

Rivvie whined again and thrust his cock up. “Can you admire it while stroking it?”

Matt touched the leaking slit. He took the moisture there and spread it around. That didn’t provide enough lubricant, so he added some spit. For a moment, he contemplated getting Rivvie’s shaft wet by putting it in his mouth, but he was intimidated by the length and girth of the thing.

What he wasn’t was grossed out by the idea. It didn’t seem unappealing at all, to think of putting Rivvie’s cock in his mouth.

Matt leaned over it and dribbled a little more saliva onto it as he jacked Rivvie off.

“Oh, oh, ohhh,” Rivvie whispered, the movement of his hands drawing Matt’s eye.

When he saw that Rivvie was pinching and twisting his own nipples, Matt’s cock filled, as hard as if he hadn’t come in weeks. His balls ached and he was so stimulated he could hardly handle it.

But handle it he did, fisting his shaft at the same time and using the same tempo as he was masturbating Rivvie with.

Rivvie’s pants, his moans and curses, the way he rolled his head from side to side, his eyes staring sightlessly at the ceiling… It was all too much, too good.

Matt jerked off faster, and he dared to stick his tongue out. Just the tip, he promised himself. He arched his neck and dragged his tongue over Rivvie’s leaking slit.

“Matt!” Rivvie bellowed, just before spunk shot out onto Matt’s face.

Matt gasped, and got a mouthful for it. The bitter, salty taste and odd texture made him gag, but he deliberately caught the next shot on his tongue.

That was all he could handle. Matt swallowed and turned his head aside. Cum splattered against his head and cheek. At the same time, he thumbed his own slit and his orgasm wrecked him, making him feel as if he were being turned inside out by the pleasure.

It was as intense as his first climax with Rivvie, and both obliterated any prior pleasure he’d felt during sex.

He understood now what Rivvie had meant about how it should feel to come. Every part of him was lit up with blissful feelings.

Once he’d come back to himself, Matt cackled in pure relief.

Rivvie grunted at him. “Uhn?”

Matt let go of their cocks. His hands had semen on them. “Look at me. I’m a mess.”

Rivvie waved a hand in the air. “C’mere.”

Matt frowned in confusion. “But I need to wash this off, and my hair is— Hey!” he yelped as he was tugged onto Rivvie’s chest.

“M’gonna clean you up,” Rivvie promised.

Matt was going to protest, then Rivvie dragged his tongue over Matt’s cheek and up into his hair. Matt’s dick twitched.

“Well, I’m not going to argue with you,” he decided magnanimously. “Have at it.” He didn’t have to be an idiot all the time.

“Oh, I will most definitely have at it, Mattie.” Rivvie flicked his tongue over Matt’s ear.

“Not Mattie,” Matt tried to growl, but it came out more like a plea. Secretly, he liked the nickname. Only Rivvie had ever dared to call him that. He did have a reputation as a grumpy bastard to upkeep, however. “Not Mattie.”

“Sure thing,” Rivvie murmured. “Mattie. Sweetheart.” He licked Matt’s ear again, this time delving in a bit.

Matt shivered. “Fuck it. Call me whatever you want, just don’t stop doing that.”

Chapter Six

“Do you think they’re finally doing it?” Aaron asked in a low voice.

Valen watched Rivvie and Matt bickering over the placement of a roughhewn beam. “Maybe. They aren’t cussing each other now. That’s got to mean something.”

Aaron nodded. “That’s what I was thinking. They’ve worked together four days and not killed each other. It seems our plan to unite the two groups is working. Most of the time.”

“Except when it doesn’t,” Valen said as shouting started up several yards away. “Ah, damn. That’s Mom. I shouldn’t have paired her up with anyone.”

“She has to learn to get along too,” Aaron protested. “She’s all right with my mom.”

Valen nodded. “Yeah, she is, but she hates everyone else unless they’re from the original pack. She hasn’t forgiven all of humanity for the attack here. Doesn’t matter that only one tribe or group—whatever they’d have called themselves—were responsible for the murders. Then again, it’s only been a few months.”

“Right.” Aaron took his hand. “I wouldn’t be able to get over losing you.”

Valen stopped walking and pulled Aaron close for a kiss. “You won’t have to. We’re going to live forever, first here, then in whatever world comes next.”

“So, except for the death part here,” Aaron teased.

Valen swatted his bottom. “You know what I mean.”

“I do, and your mother sounds like she’s about to blow up,” Aaron said.

“Shit.” Valen broke into a run and reached his mother before she could throw the plant she was holding at Zoenida, a thin woman about the same age as his mom, Beal. “Put the plant down, Mom,” Valen ordered, pointing at her. “Be nice.”

Beal arched an eyebrow at him. “I could always clobber you with it.”

Valen was at his wit’s end with his mother. She wasn’t accepting his authority as he needed her to. If she didn’t insult him and argue with him at nearly every opportunity, he wouldn’t be so frustrated. He understood she needed time to adjust to his father’s death and the incorporation of the villagers into the pack. He got it, he did. She, in turn, needed to understand that every flagrant disregard of his power, especially in the presence of others, threatened the very fiber that held the pack together.

As alpha, Valen had to command the respect and obedience of everyone to a certain degree. He wasn’t a control freak, and he didn’t expect everyone to be perfect, brainless followers, but outright disdain for him and his position would cause a lot of trouble—trouble that could cost him his life if he was challenged by someone and he lost.

Zoenida waved a garden tool at Beal. “Woman, I will beat some decency into you. You are not better than me just because you’re part wolf.”

“That’s
exactly
why I’m better than you,” Beal snarled. “You and your stupid kind need to find somewhere else to live!”

“
Aaron
is one of their
kind
,” Valen snapped, emphasizing the word kind as he didn’t like such terms bandied about. It felt insulting, in his opinion. “And he’s my mate, so you had best rethink the hateful words coming out of your mouth.”

“Or what?” Beal demanded, lifting the plant higher.

Valen went cold with regret. There was no backing down for him, not in this. He couldn’t lose status with the pack. “Or you will leave this pack and find your way elsewhere.”

Beal paled, gasping loudly. The plant wobbled as she shook. “You wouldn’t.”

“No, Mom,
you
won’t,” Valen said, tired and sad all at once. “You won’t try. You won’t stop blaming innocent people for the death of your husband. You won’t stop undermining my authority, and that, I cannot have. Father wouldn’t have allowed it from anyone.”