9. Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Jack woke and started to call for him as Maltin was making tea. Maltin smiled as he grabbed the long wooden tray he’d rarely used and carried it up the stairs. Jack rubbed his eyes like a kid and Maltin called him on it. “Sleepy baby.”

“Where were you?”

“Just getting us some tea, sweetheart.”

He sat up, and the moment Maltin set down the tray, Jack snatched up one of the cookies from the plate between the teacups. “I thought you might be hungry. Have you eaten at all today?”

“No,” he said after he swallowed. “I’m not hungry.”

Maltin watched him eat the first cookie and take a second before he took one of the cups. “Okay, but I’ll fix some food for us when you are.”

Jack nodded pitifully, and it tore at Maltin’s heart.

When Jack had finished the tea, he lay back on the pillows and pouted a little. Maltin set the tray on the floor and crawled back on the bed, spooning behind Jack. “You may be using suppressants, but…I still smell you.”

“Pervert.”

“Hey,” he said, laughing. “I can’t help it, you know? And, besides, I think I have this huge crush on you.”

“I’m your mate. You’re supposed to.”

“I think I would anyway. You must remember, darling, I am the product of a shifter who ignored his drive to find his fated mate because he found love first. What if…what if I am not your fated mate, and I’ve just become totally obsessed with you anyway?”

Jack clumsily turned around to face him. His eyes rose to look into Maltin’s, blinking slowly. “I would like that. I like you. I did mean it. I always thought you were gorgeous.”

“Ditto. I thought you were so beautiful that I tried very hard to push you away because I knew I could fall for you, and you could break my heart into a thousand pieces.”

“Really?”

He was so insecure after all the news of his roots and true parentage that Maltin wanted to fight the world to make him feel safe again. His eyes welled with tears, his bottom lip hung a little fuller than usual, and he pled with those wet eyes most sweetly. If he hadn’t fallen in love with Jack already, he surely did in that moment. “Really, Jack. I think you’re the most remarkable man I’ve ever known. You're much stronger than I guessed to take that kind of news and not completely fall apart.”

“Strong? I’m acting like a child.”

“No. You’re acting like a person who just had their whole world turned upside down, and instead of lashing out, you’re lying here, in a bed with a man that cares for you, confident enough in yourself and me to be vulnerable. Me? I hid away in a warehouse, surrounded by cold cars and beautiful things, instead of trying to be vulnerable again with anyone. I admire and respect you, Jack.”

Jack’s swift movement caught him by surprise as Jack pressed his tea and cookie-flavored lips to Maltin’s. “You’re so good to me,” he said against Maltin’s lips. “I’m so sorry about your cars.”

Barking a laugh, Maltin whispered, “Tut, tut. None of that. It was me doing it. I’m just glad I didn’t break you.”

“You just said how tough I am. Why don’t we…you know…see if we can break the bed?”

Maltin laughed throatily as he let his eyes move over the bed. “Well, it would be pretty difficult, but we can try it,” he started, then whispered, “Next time. This time, I just want to be with you, touching, kissing, feeling you.”

Jack blinked at him again, and it was so sweet it warmed his heart even more. “You…want that?”

Taken aback, he asked, “Why wouldn’t I?”

“I don’t know…I just…we went at it like that.”

“Oh. Well, I think that was the heat you are in, at least part of it. With or without the shifter stuff, my passion for you made me a bit…crazy. I’ve calmed enough to see past my overwhelming urges to want you, softly,” he said as he kissed Jack tenderly.

“I like that,” Jack whispered, then added, “Sometimes. But, you know, I didn’t mind the rough either.”

“Good, because I have a lot more cars to crash.”

Jack giggled, and it was like angels singing. “I came here the first time, and you wouldn’t let me even touch them.”

“I was a bit anal about them. About everything, but now I have something much more precious. A mate.”

Jack kissed him seductively, then lay flat on the bed, his eyes heavily lidded, lips parted to allow his long, heated breaths to escape.

Maltin kissed him again, sucking in that breath, licking the underside of Jack’s top lip playfully. “You’re so beautiful, Jack. So, so beautiful.”

For the next few minutes, Maltin slowly got Jack undressed, lifting his shirt a little at a time, licking a little, kissing his hard, perfect stomach, then moving up to suckle each nipple. When Jack was free of the shirt, Maltin lay gently over him, tasting his mouth, sucking marks on his neck, and listening to Jack’s sweet sounds.

Once he started on Jack’s pants, he pleasured him in a long, slow blow job as his hands pulled the waistband over his hips, sucking each ball, loving the smell and taste of his mate.

Free of the pants at last, Jack spread his legs while he smiled shyly. Maltin hadn’t ever pictured him as shy, but he had his moments come to find out. “I want to be inside you, Jack. I want to mate with you, but not because we’re supposed to. I hope that you know that.”

“I want to be with you, be your mate, be yours,” he breathed and wrapped his arms tightly around Maltin’s neck, kissing his face until Maltin started to slide inside of him. Then he let his head drop back to the pillow, and Maltin smiled wickedly at Jack, pushing deeper.

“Yeah, Jack. My mate. Mine. I want you all to myself, and I don’t care how that sounds,” he breathed into Jack’s ear while he rested his cock fully inside of Jack. “I don’t care if I come off as a jealous, possessive asshole. I want you all to myself for at least a little while.”

“Yes,” Jack grunted, panting wildly. “I’m yours. I want to be yours, Maltin.”

Maltin started to move, slowly at first, taking full advantage, kissing him, scraping his teeth across Jack’s jaw stubble, whispering in his ear until his thrusts sped.

Jack was clenching around his cock, milking him, loving him back, and Maltin sped up more, holding Jack’s head to keep it elevated, making it easier to kiss those succulent, cherub lips.

Jack was clinging to him, his eyes wet and round as he looked over Maltin’s face, begging with sounds instead of words, kissing back, fucking back, and Maltin knew at that moment he was completely in love with this man. There was no doubt, and he wanted to scream it out or whisper it, but he didn’t want the first time he said it to be in the middle of lovemaking.

His mate. His. The words rang in his head, the feelings surging through him stronger than the climax that was rushing on him.

“Will you…do the knotting thing again?”

Knowing that he was breeding Jack when he knotted, he stopped his thrusts and said, “Jack, do you realize…?”

“That we’re gonna make…more little hellhounds? Yeah, Maltin. I do.”

Maltin’s life did an entire circle in his mind as he thought about how much he wanted it, too. He’d been alone so long and thought he liked it that way, but having Jack in his life made all the difference.

When he came in the next few minutes, Jack held onto him, unmoving, and Maltin knotted, breathing harshly on the pillow beside Jack’s head. “Jack…Jack, I want you…forever, I want you.”

“Me too. It’s fate.”

Maltin nodded and stayed still so he wouldn’t hurt his mate. Jack’s breath on his cheek as he turned his head was everything, just like Jack himself.

They lay together even after Maltin could pull out of Jack, and he held his mate in his arms silently and sweetly. Jack was the one to get up first, padding across the floor to the stairs, and Maltin couldn’t take his eyes off that sweet ass. “Damn, you’re so pretty naked.”

“So, I’m ugly with clothes?” Jack yelled from the bottom of the stairs.

“Definitely horrid!”

When Jack returned a few minutes later, he crawled onto the bed, then on top of Maltin. “I guess I’ll just have to stay naked all the time.”

“Like I’d argue with that!”

“Go ahead and tell me now.”

Maltin’s breathing stopped. His mind halted along with it. When he did speak, it was after swallowing a thousand times. “Um, what?”

Jack’s smile made his entire face glow. “Tell me you love me now.”

“How…?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s a fated mate thing, but I heard your thoughts. You didn’t want to tell me during sex. I’ll start if you like.”

Maltin shook his head and stammered, “No…no, it should be me first, at least I think so. I mean, I wanted to say it, but yes, we were being intimate.”

“Are you going to say it?”

Jack’s hands rested on Maltin’s chest, and Maltin took his left hand, kissing the palm as he calmed himself. “I love you, Jack. I…I love you with every single part of me.”

Nodding slowly, Jack’s voice absolutely purred. “I love you, Maltin.”

“We’re insane.”

“Why? Because we met and fell in love? It’s an old story, you know? A million, trillion love stories, songs, poems, all talking about this. And we’ve found it. If you question it, I’ll lose my cool.”

“I’m not questioning my feelings, Jack. I guess I just didn’t really think that anyone could love me.”

Without blinking, Jack said, “Yeah, you’re so ugly! You’re poor and wretched and not hot at all. Old! Like you’re really old, right? And you have this tiny dick.”

“Excuse me! Play all you want about my age, my looks, and my money, but not the dick.”

Jack laughed loudly, and Maltin enjoyed that sound. He’d been so down after finding out his parentage. “Let’s, uh, get something to drink. You dehydrate me.”

Jack hopped off the bed and held his hand down to Maltin. “Need a hand, old man?”

“You are asking for a spanking.”

“Do not threaten me with a good time.”

Hand in hand, naked, they walked down the stairs and drank two glasses each, quickly, then Jack stared over at the papers on the coffee table. “I guess we should get this planned. I need to tell the Pengroves to fuck off.”

“Jack…”

“No. I’m serious. They treated me like shit for not being powerful, and it turns out I am,” he said, then stopped and looked back at Maltin. “I think. What do we do exactly? And when do we shift?”

Maltin stared back, searching his mind and finding nothing. “I don’t know! I’ve never met one, never given them a thought. I guess maybe we should start with that. How will you rub your identity in their faces if you don’t know what we do?”

“Exactly. And I know just the place to research.”

“Okay, where?”

“The library.”