Chapter Thirty–Seven

CHAPTER THIRTY–SEVEN

O f course everything was done right.

As soon as Apex had fired up the security system, all feeds were a go—and the images and sound were routed to the three places he’d requested. No problems, no delays. No malfunctions.

Which was why he’d brought Mayhem on to the project, he thought as he left the big house an hour later.

The male could drive a person up a wall, but his tech skills were unparalleled.

Although fine, maybe Apex himself was a little on the touchy side.

As he followed the footsteps he’d made before, he was aware of a heavy weight on him. The windows were still dark on the second floor of the garage, and he imagined that Callum had already left when his proverbial back was turned.

Just like before.

Would it be another thirty years before their paths crossed again? He couldn’t say he had a lot of hope.

Going around the truck and the disengaged plow, he opened the garage’s side door, and the motion-activated light in the stairwell came on. He stared up the steps. Before he’d come over here, he’d put his duffle by the front door of the big house. Repacking hadn’t been hard. He’d never unpacked. No sleeping, either.

He had brushed his teeth.

Maybe he should be the one who just left? It was a good theory to try out, but come on. He didn’t have it in him—

The muffled shout was the kind of thing he wasn’t sure whether he heard in real time or imagined because he was, as usual, back in a past that had become his own because of who he loved, not because he’d lived through the trauma himself.

When the sound was repeated, he was hit with a cold wash of panic. Taking the stairs up two at a time, he burst through the door—

The hoarse moan of pain was coming from the bed, and with the door open, there was just enough light to see the wolven thrashing in the sheets: He was naked now, and for a split second, Apex was convinced that symphath had come over to give some more “advice.”

God, Callum’s body was beautiful—

But the ragged curse that rose up was not about pleasure.

“ Callum ,” he said as he rushed over. “Wake up, wake up—”

Another hoarse shout hit the air, and then Callum jacked upright on his hips, his white-rimmed, terrified eyes fixating over Apex’s shoulder, his chest pumping up and down, his arms straining as he held on to the covers.

“Callum.” Apex stroked the wolven’s shoulder. “It’s okay, you’re safe—”

“Apex?”

He moved his face into the light flowing in from the stairwell. “Yes, it’s me. Look at me—that’s right. That’s good. You’re not back there. You’re with me and we’re safe, at your place.”

“Oh, God . . .” Callum closed his eyes. “I can’t do this anymore. I can’t live like this any—”

“Just take a deep breath. Breathe with—”

“ Fuck me .” The wolven grabbed on to Apex’s arms. “I need you to fuck me— fuck me !”

It was the last thing he expected, and Apex split in half in that moment: One part of him was an absolute no. He was not having sex with the male he loved for the first time like this, in this desperate, frantic confusion.

The other part of him, who had waited so long, instantly hardened.

And then Callum started kissing him, that mouth seeking Apex’s and plying, begging, talking even as his tongue licked out.

“Fuck me, I need you to fuck me . . .”

Over and over, he repeated the hoarse plea against Apex’s lips—until he broke the contact, undid Apex’s pants, and then rolled over so he was facedown. Looking around his shoulder, he was babbling while he arched his back and offered his ass.

“Fuck me,” he begged through tears. “You’ve got to fuck her out of me. Please—just fuck me—”

He reached back and pulled Apex forward. On top of him.

As soon as the weight seemed to register, the moan sounded different. Or Apex told himself it did. Who knew—

Callum opened his legs, and Apex’s cock fell in between like it knew what it needed to do. What its job was. What it was being used for, born for.

Licking his hand, Apex reached in between their bodies, and then he was finding—

The groan that came out of the wolven was ragged. “ Fuck me .”

Something snapped as the penetration happened. In both of them.

Instantly, the rhythm was unhinged, Apex letting his hips loose to the point where he had to hold on to the iron slats of the headboard for leverage. With the bed banging, and Callum grunting, and their bodies moving together, Apex stared at the wall.

In the midst of all the passion, he died inside.

Even as they both orgasmed at the same time.