Chapter 4

Chapter Four

T hey napped for a while, spooned around each other, glued together with sweat and cum. Dylan was still exhausted and Ross didn't want to face the world, especially his boss. He fretted about the animals, but Joe had Zeke and Owen there as well as Joe Senior. He wasn't trying to run Sapphire Ranch single-handedly.

"You should have a farm," Dylan said sleepily, clearly following his train of thought.

"I'd like that," Ross admitted, pressing a kiss to the nape of Dylan's neck. Wolf shifters even smelled different to humans. He'd never realized that. He heard Dylan chuckling in his head and smiled against Dylan's skin.

At first, caring for the animals had been just something else that needed to be done while they dealt with the hunters, to help Joe who was really a professor. But he'd developed a love for the critters he hadn't expected. Joe had returned to take care of the ranch and his dying father. Now he was the alpha of a pack, trying to bring down the nastiest sons of bitches—Ross mentally apologized to his mom—they'd ever seen. Joe was trying to split himself ten ways to Sunday. But Ross loved the animals. Being away from them while he'd recovered from the car accident had been hard. And if he resigned from the Cavalry, he could still take care of the animals, protect his mate, and Eli couldn't interfere.

"Quit thinking." Dylan rolled over in his arms to kiss Ross's mouth. "I can't sleep when you're thinking so loud."

"You can hear everything I'm thinking?"

"Of course I can," Dylan grumbled. "You're a pup in mate terms. You're not skilled enough to hide from me."

Ross tried not to bristle, knowing his mate was right.

Dylan pressed another kiss to his mouth. "I'm sorry."

He accepted his mate's kiss, knowing Dylan was right, if less than diplomatic. "You can teach me, right?"

"To hide from me?"

"To stop broadcasting my thoughts," Ross said. "Can the others hear me?"

"I don't know how this pack works," Dylan admitted. "In a normal pack they'd all hear you, but filter you out."

Ross sighed. "We really need to talk to the others."

"If your boss doesn't arrest me."

"Eli's not a cop," Ross pointed out, "and he's your boss too."

"So he says," Dylan grumbled.

The conversation had gone down a grim path in a space that was meant to be just theirs. Ross cupped Dylan's jaw and kissed him tenderly. "Worry about that later. In here, it's just us." He smoothed out the lines between Dylan's darker brows.

Dylan sighed too. "Make me yours."

‘I am yours," Ross said simply. He hadn't known Dylan existed this time yesterday and now he envisaged the rest of their lives together.

Ross traced one hand down his mate's lean muscled body, feeling the soft body hair tickle his palm, getting thicker as it followed a line down his belly to the tight curls around his half-hard cock.

Dylan's wolfy musk aroused him beyond anything he'd known. He'd always loved the strong, heady smells of men, particularly when they were aroused. Sweat-covered men after sport drove him wild. The high school locker room years had been especially difficult, not wanting to give himself away.

"You're thinking of jocks now?" Dylan asked, an edge to his voice.

"I'm sorry. Train of thought," Ross confessed. "I was obsessing over your scent again."

"Mates are meant to be attracted to each other by their scents." Dylan sounded happier but Ross knew he had work to do to mollify his mate.

Dylan let out a long breath as Ross licked over his nipples and wrapped a hand around his dick. "Feels so good," he crooned.

Ross jacked him slowly, feeling his shaft thicken, velvet over iron, watching Dylan's leg muscles tense and his toes curl in time to the slow stroke of his cock.

"Fuck," Dylan breathed out, catching his bottom lip between his teeth. A flush spread up his chest, his neck, and his face.

He was everything Ross had ever wanted in his bed. But this was better, this was his mate.

"Stop. Thinking."

Ross found himself on his back, Dylan straddling his hips, glaring down at him, a storm brewing in his expression.

"It's like having a constant conversation in my head. You never shut up. You've got one job to do here, mister, and that's to fuck me senseless."

Ross saluted him. "Yessir."

Dylan rolled his eyes. "Ass."

"Yours." Ross tapped said ass in encouragement and Dylan obliged.

It wasn't the most graceful move but as Dylan slid down Ross's cock to seat himself, Ross really didn't care. All he wanted was to be sheathed by that wolfy ass…human ass…whatever.

"You feel so good," he managed.

"You fill me up."

Ross held Dylan's hips and arched up. "Ride me, my wolf."

Dylan rode him like he was a winning Derby horse.

All he needed was a flogger.

Wait, whose thought was that? Ross was sure it wasn't his. He looked up to see Dylan smirking at him.

"I'm going to have you," he growled.

"Yes, now, do it."

Ross heaved up and now it was Dylan underneath him and Ross buried back inside him.

"Do it. Do it," Dylan chanted. ‘Make me come."

Ross sat back on his haunches and pulled Dylan into his lap. "You're going to come when I'm ready."

Dylan groaned, arching his back and throwing his head back as Ross thrust upward, burying himself as deep as he could go. They were both dripping with sweat, and it was uncomfortable and nigh on impossible to hold onto Dylan, but this short, sharp fucking was driving them both frantic.

Dylan wrapped his arms around Ross's neck. "You're driving me mad."

"You're welcome," Ross panted, then kissed Dylan hard until he couldn't think of anything except his tongue in Dylan's mouth, the strain in his thighs, and the narrow channel holding his cock in place and sealing them together.

They came like that, Dylan seconds ahead, spurting between them, triggering Ross to pump his cum deep into his mate's body.

Ross tipped forward, pushing in deeper as he crushed Dylan beneath him, but when he tried to move, Dylan wrapped his arms and legs around him.

"Job done," Dylan said breathlessly as he stared up at the ceiling.

Ross buried his face, panting into Dylan's sweaty neck. Job done. Dylan cupped his neck and held him close. He understood. He wasn't going anywhere until Dylan was ready. He'd sleep for thirty minutes or so before he had to face the world.

At some point, he woke, not sure what had disturbed him until the mattress dipped and rose as Dylan got out of bed. He waited with bated breath until he heard the shower turn on in the bathroom. Ross breathed easier. Dylan wasn't trying to sneak away from him. Ross would never have let him run.

You could join me.

Ross grinned at the pointed offer and rolled out of bed. He sniffed his armpit and looked down at his crusty belly, then pulled a face. He definitely needed a shower, he was stinky.

"Ross."

Disturbed from a light sleep, Ross blinked at Zeke's bellow from below. "Yeah." No one could hear that. Ross swallowed a couple of times and tried again. "Yeah?"

Dylan grumbled and tried to wrap himself tighter around Ross.

"Eli wants you back at the house. He's got news."

Ross tried to work out whether it was good news or bad news from Zeke's tone, but it was impossible, and Ross had just woken up again. Was this the third or fourth time they'd dozed around each other like puppies in a pile? He fumbled for his phone and yelped. It was gone two. No wonder Eli had sent Zeke to find them.

"We're coming," he yelled.

"Or not," Dylan grumbled as he sat up, scratching under one armpit.

"Sorry," Ross said. "Eli's getting impatient."

"What's the time?"

"Gone two."

Dylan grimaced. "I wanted to sleep away the day."

Then his stomach rumbled and Ross grinned.

"We'll eat and find out what's wrong. Then we'll hide again."

"Are we driving somewhere to pick up food?" Dylan asked.

Ross shook his head. "There'll be food at the ranch. Cal always has food if we need it. No one goes hungry."

"What if they've found out I'm the traitor?" Dylan asked in a small voice.

Ross knew it would be a question asked over and over until they had the answers. He put an arm around Dylan's shoulders. "Then we face it together as mates. Because that's what we are."

He heard footsteps outside the door.

"Ross?"

"Yeah, we're coming."

"I'm here to take you back to the ranch."

That wasn't good. Ross felt Dylan's muscles lock under his arm. "Wait here," he murmured.

He stood, feeling the start of a headache brewing. He had to be dehydrated now. When was the last time he'd drunk anything? Ross pulled sweats out of his pack, yanked them on, and opened the door, unsurprised to find Zeke leaned against the wall, his arms folded.

"We're not running anywhere," he pointed out, scowling at Zeke. "We don't need a bodyguard."

"I know."

That bleak "I know," worried him.

"Are you gonna tell me what they found out?"

"I don't know," Zeke admitted. "Eli and Niles have been in meetings all morning. They got fed up waiting for your sorry ass to turn up."

Ross flushed. He had no right to sleep away the day.

"Hey." Zeke wrapped a large hand around his bicep. He made two of Ross. "You're still my brother, okay? And my teammate. And now my packmate."

"I know." Ross let all his skepticism show.

Zeke grimaced. "Owen is too."

Ross stared at him, and Zeke shrugged. "He understands what it's like to be rejected."

"Dylan is my mate. I'll stand by him, no matter what." He said it loudly so Dylan could hear. For that, he received an eyeroll from Zeke and a mental one from Dylan.

"Let's get going before Eli believes you've run away and sends the rest of the Cavalry after you," Zeke suggested. It was more of an order really.

An hour later, Ross thought running away would have been his best move.