“The very same,” he said, pulling off to smile at him. “It’s time to wake up, baby. Get out of bed.” But instead of letting him, Marco put out his tongue to lick at Nicky’s dick.
Nicky laughed, dropped his head back on the pillow and caught his breath as Marco resumed his attentions. “Oh my God.”
He arched his back and pushed into that wet heat. Marco murmured something around his cock, the vibration driving Nicky wild. He thrust up again and tangled his fingers into Marco’s thick hair. “Don’t stop. Please don’t stop.”
Marco laughed softly and looked up at him. “What do you want me to do? This?” he said, licking across the head of Nicky’s cock. “Or maybe this?” Marco dragged a slow, hot tongue all the way up the length of Nicky’s shaft, making him shiver and moan. Another few seconds of this treatment, and Nicky knew he’d be talking in tongues.
“Marco,” Nicky groaned as Marco engulfed his cock with his hot mouth, swirling over his skin as he moved up and down, over and over in a maddeningly slow rhythm that was driving Nicky out of his mind. Nicky tried to speed things up, to move this along by humping up his hips faster, but Marco clamped down on them with his hands, holding him firmly in place. They would proceed at Marco’s pace, not Nicky’s, and he was emphasizing that point with every stroke of his tongue.
Tiny flares began to flash behind Nicky’s eyes as his climax caught him by surprise, sweeping over him and dragging him along, trying to fling him up on the shore of an orgasm, making him scream out Marco’s name and clutch him closer. Marco soothed him through it, sucking him dry until Nicky shuddered in his grip. Then he pulled off with a little pop and licked and nipped his way up Nicky’s abs and chest to reach his mouth. Nicky could taste himself on Marco’s lips along with Marco’s own particular brand of sweetness.
“Jesus,” Nicky said, breathless and spent. “And you said you wanted me to get out of bed? I may never move again.” It was true. As energetic and restless as he’d been earlier that afternoon, he now felt sleepy and spent. He would have liked nothing better than to snuggle down in the covers with Marco and have him hold him against his warm body all night. It was strange—it felt almost like two different beings inhabited his body. And the two of them rarely agreed on anything.
“No, you don’t. Open those baby blues and get out of bed. We have plans this evening, don’t you remember?”
Nicky groaned and tried his best to roll over, but Marco caught hold of his hands and pulled him up to swing him around on the side of the bed. “Wake up, baby. We’re going for a run. The moon is out and it’s beautiful outside. A little cool, but we’ll warm up in a few minutes.”
“You might,” he grumbled and stretched his arms over his head and arched his back in a huge yawn. “I’ll just get tired and colder. Can’t we just go back to bed?”
“No, sleepyhead. Now get up and get dressed.” Marco went over to the dresser drawers and pulled out a pair of sweatpants and a soft T-shirt. “Put these on. You don’t need underwear, because we’ll be shifting once we get out there.”
“You may be,” Nicky muttered under his breath.
“What’s that?”
“Nothing. I just don’t think I feel like it tonight. I’m really tired.”
“After the way you bitched everyone out today about wanting something to do? Oh no, you don’t, buddy. We’re doing this. You have to shift sooner or later, and now’s as good a time as any. You have to learn how to control your wolf.” Marco threw his tennis shoes at him. “Get dressed or I’ll take you just as you are. Nobody will mind.”
Nicky stood up and jerked on his too-short pants and tight-as-hell T-shirt. Almost nothing he owned fit him anymore. Marco’s things were still a little too big, and his were way too small. Feeling like a grouchy Goldilocks, he wondered if anything would ever be just right again.
He thrust his feet in his shoes without bothering to tie them. At least his feet hadn’t grown. He knew he was acting like a spoiled brat, but he couldn’t seem to help himself. He was scared of the damned lunatic wolf inside him, damn it. He’d explained all this carefully to Marco before, but he didn’t seem to care. It would serve him right if the thing inside him did rip out Marco’s damn throat.
The second the idea formed in his head, he pushed it right back out again, horrified at himself. He loved Marco better than anything, better than he loved himself, and that was saying a lot. According to Rory, nobody meant as much to Nicky as Nicky himself. Rory was wrong, though. He’d give up his life for Marco and never look back. How could that horrible thought have even come into his mind, however momentarily?
Marco nodded at him when he was fully dressed and then led the way outside. Nicky hugged himself as he looked up at the night sky, beset with stars. The moon slid across the sky like a silvery bangle on a midnight band of silk, the stars little inset diamonds in the cloth. It was absolutely silent—no, just there beyond the edge of the woods, Nicky could hear the trees murmuring softly to themselves. He shivered as a cold breeze slipped across the lawn and touched his back.
Marco caught hold of his hand and leaned over to brush his lips across his cheek. “Come on, baby. Let’s go.”
Marco led him along the trail that reached from Mountainwood to the new lodge built by Cade and his mate Jax higher on the mountain. Their lodge was some two or three miles away as the crow flew, but more than six miles along this meandering path that wrapped itself around the mountain with a much gentler incline. Marco kept up a steady pace, so that Nicky was easily able to keep up. Nicky kept his eyes on the ground, though, because after that first glance up at the moon, the beast inside him was stirring restlessly, eager to get out and run under the nighttime sky.
Nicky had hoped the running would wear him out to the point that he could avoid even the idea of shifting into that monster inside him who wanted nothing more than to hurt Marco. But as he jogged along behind Marco, he found himself getting energized again, the same way he’d been earlier in the day. This time it frightened him. A short way down the path, Marco stopped and began taking off his clothes.
“Come on, Nicky. I want to see you shift.”
Nicky stopped beside him, breathless and nervous. “No, not tonight. You go ahead and I’ll wait for you.”
“Bullshit,” Marco said firmly. He stepped closer and skinned Nicky’s T-shirt over his head. “Off. You’re going to let me see your wolf. I can’t help you if you keep him inside, Nicky. And it won’t work for long. You remember that day in the garden when you just lost control and the wolf came out, don’t you? Do you want that to happen again?”
Nicky pushed his hands away from the snap on his jeans and took a step back. “No, and it’s not happening now. Leave me alone.”
“The hell it isn’t happening.” Marco stepped aggressively toward him, crowding him on the narrow path. “This is why we came out here. Now shift.” He put a hand on Nicky’s chest and shoved him, not hard, but enough to irritate him and make him take another step backward.
“Stop, damn it. Don’t you get it? This thing inside me wants to kill you. I can feel it right now, trying to get out and tear out your throat.”
“And you think it can? You think my wolf will just stand by and let that happen? Bring it, baby. I’m ready for you.” Marco gave him another little shove and smiled broadly when Nicky snarled at him. To Nicky’s ears, it sounded completely inhuman. He could feel his gums prickling as his incisors dropped down and suddenly his mouth was way too full of teeth.
“No, Marco!” he yelled, or meant to, but it came out as garbled and more of a howl than actual words. Marco kept coming, getting up in his face and pushing him so that he was mostly off the path and backed up into a big prickly bush of some kind behind him.