More Than Pride by Kell, Amber (good books to read for beginners TXT) 📕

sex began to saturate the air, increasing Chester’s desire. His mates smelt amazing. Leaning down, he lapped at Dillon’s shoulder, enjoying the salty flavour of his mate.

He watched as Evin entered Dillon at a slow, steady rate, carefully making sure Dillon didn’t experience too much discomfort.

“Oooh…” Dillon’s low moans had Chester biting his lip. The sounds of need made Chester pump his hand up and down faster in time to Evin’s thrusts into Dillon’s ass. With a low roar, Dillon shoved back into Evin’s motions. “That’s so good.”

“Yes,” Evin sighed.

Chester watched as Evin’s hand transformed into a bird claw. With ruthless precision he reached around the front of Dillon and sliced his neck from base to shoulder, gouging a deep scratch into the lion shifter’s neck. Blood splattered like a crimson shower across the pillow.

“Holy crap.” Chester groaned as Dillon gave a shout and came into the sheets below.

Evin’s eyes completely transformed into owlish orbs—feathers decorated around his eyes even as the rest of him was completely human.

“What did you expect? I don’t have fangs.”

“I guess I never thought about it before,” Chester confessed. Truly he’d not envisioned how birds marked each other at all. “Are you all right, Dillon?”

A sloppy smile crossed the lion shifter’s lips. “Yeah. I’m good.”

Evin gripped Dillon’s hips and proceeded to pound his way through his orgasm, eventually collapsing on Dillon’s back. Dillon easily accepted his lover’s weight as a long, satisfied purr filled the air.

Laughing, Evin kissed the scratch he’d left behind. “Mating with a bird is more brutal than with you cats. That doesn’t make it less binding, though.” 4Chester nodded but his erection had disappeared with the spurt of blood. Evin’s eyes narrowed on him until he felt like that kitten dangling in the air again.

“Is that going to be a problem for you?” Evin asked.

Chester shook his head. He didn’t know if it would or not, but with Evin staring at him, he’d wasn’t going to admit to anything.

“I need a shower,” Dillon mumbled into his pillow, “and possibly a nap.”

After some grumbling about the best way to arrange three people, the trio piled into bed and fell asleep.

* * * *

The next morning Chester woke to the sensation of two men surrounding him with their warmth. Damn, that was hot…in more ways than one. It took concentrated effort to wiggle to the bottom of the bed and escape the overwhelming affection so he could go pee.

His stomach churned uneasily as he rose but he couldn’t ignore nature’s call.

Returning to the bed, he began to sweat and tingles travelled from his hands to his feet.

“Hey, honey.” Dillon peered out from beneath the blankets to give him a sleepy smile.

“Um…hi.” He tried to put more welcome into his voice but spots were dancing in front of his eyes and abruptly everything went black.

Dillon let out a ferocious roar at the sight of his mate collapsing. “Get Talan!” he shouted to Evin.

That order proved to not be necessary when the alpha mates rushed into the room.

“What happened?” Talan asked. He caught sight of Chester unconscious. “Did the poison take effect?”

“I don’t know.” Dillon ran a hand through his hair. “He seemed fine but when he stood up, he collapsed.”

Adrian was already on the phone talking to someone. When he hung up his face was stern. “The hospital said Dr Henrikson is out of town. He’s the only shifter doctor I know.”

“What about James’ father? He did all those experiments. He might be able to help,”

Talan mused. 4“The man who began PAW?” Adrian gave Talan an expression that showed he thought his mate had lost his ever-loving mind.

“Hey, if we’re trying to find a solution for Chester’s poison, who better than Andrew Everett? The man is a genius. A mad genius, maybe, but he successfully prevented his son from shifting for years.”

“I think his intentions are good,” Dillon said, looking down at Chester’s still form. “I’m willing to give him a chance…if you are?” He turned to Evin to get a second opinion.

“Yeah. Anything. I don’t know how much time we have.”

“Okay.” Adrian started dialling again.

“What if he doesn’t want to help?” Dillon asked.

“He will. The man might have made some mistakes in his past but he’s taken to coming to town more often to bond with his son. Anyone that determined to bridge a relationship with his shifter son can’t be harbouring too hard of feelings towards shifters,” Talan assured him. But Dillon didn’t miss the questioning look he passed to his mate.

Adrian seemed to get the answer he wanted because, when he’d hung up, he had a satisfied expression on his face. “Andrew is on his way. He’s going to stop and get some stuff from the local pharmacist. He says he might know what the poison is or at least enough to delay it a bit.”

Fear rattled through Dillon’s body. “I’m going to take a quick shower.” He looked towards Evin.

“I’ll keep an eye on him while you’re gone. If he shows any signs of doing worse I’ll come get you.”

Dillon nodded. He needed to do something. He struggled against the urge to shift into a lion and guard his mate from all others. He couldn’t let his instincts take over, not right now.

Jumping in the shower, he prayed that his beautiful mate would survive. His hands shook so much that he dropped the soap three times. Images of Chester’s sparkling eyes and memories of his gentle touch conspired to have tears dropping down Dillon’s face.

“It’ll be okay,” he whispered to the running water. “It has to be.”

When he returned to the room, nothing had changed yet. Andrew still hadn’t shown.

“His breathing is good,” Adrian said by way of greeting. “And his heartbeat is steady.” 4“Okay.” What did you say in a situation like this where you knew your mate was close to death?

“I’m going to take my shower.”

Dillon looked into Evin’s eyes and saw that the sorrow in the bird shifter matched his own. He nodded without speaking.