Bait And Switch--SAMPLE (Book 4 of The Claimed Series)

Chapter 6

"How many kids would you have wanted?" Webb muttered, not tearing his eyes from the washcloth that was hiding the test strip.

"I wanted a fucking soccer team's worth," I told him, smiling sadly. "I guess that's sort of out of the question now, though."

He nodded and took a deep breath. "I've wanted them for years," Webb admitted. "I pressured Lena into having them. When my 29th birthday rolled around, I blew out the candles and made a wish. I wished for children."

"It looks like birthday wishes do come true," I said dryly. "I don't think Lena will keep the baby from you, Webb. She seems too damn sweet for that. She just needs to heal from all this, then she'll be here, baby bump and glowing with impending motherhood. Like she should be."

"I should be there," he said quickly. "That's my kid. I'm supposed to be the one taking care of her and the baby, going to the market for stupid fucking pregnancy cravings and rubbing her back when it's sore. This wasn't supposed to happen like this."

A stray tear dripped off his chin. He blindly wiped the moisture away. My heart ached for him. And for myself. I felt like I was the interloper in someone else's mating. If I hadn't left Colorado...

Why was I the one feeling guilty?

I felt like some kind of homewrecking hussy who fucked up someone else's happy ending, and my heart gave a lurch in my chest when I realized I would never have Webb all to myself.

I would only ever have half his heart.

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Webb was wrapped around me in bed, holding me tightly. It was the only thing I could do—be his fucking anchor throughout this shit storm. I finally opened my mouth to speak as we both laid there, utterly silent.

"Maybe you should reject me and go after Lena," I told him, voice low and wavering. It really fucking killed me to say the words.

"No," Webb said, his voice strong. "You are my mate. The pack rules... I could never have a chosen anyway. It is forbidden. And I wouldn't even if I could. We were meant to be, Hugo. You and I. Even if this is the most fucking difficult thing I ever do, it's worth it. It's gotta be."

But what if it wasn't? I didn't say it out loud, but it was all I could think of.

"I want to mark you," he told me, his words bowling me over. "And I want you to mark me as well."

"We should give it time, Webb. I—"

"I don't need time," he said, interrupting. "I know what I want, and I know I can't have it all. I can't have my brood of children with my mate, but I will find Lena and my baby, and she will come back here to raise him or her. Even if it takes me months, I will accomplish that."

"You...you're not going to fight her for full custody, are you?"

"No. Shared would be fine," he said. "It would kill me, not having my kid around all the time, but I'm not an asshole, and Lena will be a great mother. I wouldn't do that to her."

I paused, thinking.

"You don't think that's partially the reason she left, do you?" I asked. "Maybe she was afraid that you would fight her for the baby."

"Lena isn't like that," he grumbled, sighing. "She knows that I would never do that to her—or the baby."

"You never thought she'd skip out on you either, pregnant or not," I reminded him.

"Lena is a decent person," Webb asserted again. "She...she'll get over this and come back. Even if I have to beg, she'll come back so we can raise our child together."

I kissed his forehead, hoping he was right. I was willing to do whatever made Webb happy in the situation. I knew being a father would do that, and I had to come to terms with the fact that she was giving him something I never could. A child.

For the first time in—well, probably forever, I wished I had been born without a dick. I wanted to give him a family, and give it to myself.

My lips pressed against his forehead again, brushing small pecks as he held onto me tighter. He shifted, bringing his head up from my chest and placing a soft kiss on my neck where he'd most likely mark me.

"Webb—"

"Let me mark you," his husky voice rasped out. The bastard's tone literally made me shiver, made me want to comply. Being males, neither of us would have to deal with an oncoming heat, so it didn't really matter whether or not he marked me now or in a month's time. Heat was the female's calling card, her pull to give her mate children.

"Okay," I said, softly. He probably barely heard me.

Placing more soft kisses at the crook of my neck, I felt his teeth scrape against skin, testing it, licking.

"Fuck, Hugo..."

Something hard dug into my side as his hips shifted against me. Webb was wearing boxers, but he either didn't snap the flap closed, or it wasn't the unsnappable kind of boxer. A hard, hot, bulbous head slipped through the opening and dug into me, sliding across my skin easier than it should.

I placed my left hand on his dick. The head of it was slick, oozing precum. Unable to stop myself, my hand wrapped around him and jerked, making him moan into the skin on my neck. I gave him a few more thorough tugs and felt his teeth still nibbling at the oversensitive part of my neck. I shuddered and felt his teeth elongate, two pinpricks of pain that made me gasp and then groan as his canines sank into my skin. My hand stilled on his twitching cock as pain morphed into pleasure and I felt the tenuous bond between us and expand like a wave of heat across my skin.

"Fuck, Webb!" He made a dark and desperate sound, and I felt his tongue flicker out, licking around the mark as his healing saliva sealed the wound shut. Jesus.

"Hugo. I fucking need you," he told me, his voice a gravelly plea.

"You have me, Webb. Always."

"Then fucking mark me. Take what's yours."

I didn't need to be told twice, and flipped our positions. I was hovering over him, straddling his waist when my lips came down to suck on the skin of his neck. His hips ground into mine as he grunted his pleasure. His precum-lubed cock pushed up between my ass cheeks at full salute. He grabbed his cock, tapping it against my boxers-covered ass.

"Fuck. Just do it, Hugo. Don't fucking tease me."

I smiled into his neck before baring my teeth and letting a little of my inner wolf out. I didn't mess with him like he did and went in for the kill. Or, more accurately, the bite.

Blood splashed over my lips and tongue, and I took a couple of pulls before letting my tongue heal the bite with a few dragging licks of his skin.

There. Even if he had a tie to Lena, he was mine. My mark blooming on the skin of his neck, made it official. He was mine, all mine. And I was his.

Breathing heavily, he looked up at me as I pulled away from his neck. "Guess this would be a good time to ask whether you're a top or a bottom," he remarked, smirking a little.

Laughing through my heavy pants, I smiled. "I've done both," I told him. "I like both. What about you?"

He stopped, thinking for a moment. "I haven't bottomed in a while, because of Lena, but I've done it before. Done it and liked it. I don't mind either way. Of course, I haven't seen your size so that may have some say in whether I'm willing to bottom for you. I don't need to be split open if you're hung like an ox."

I nodded and pushed off the bed to make my way to the duffel bag I had a few essentials in.

"I whip my dick out and it's either going in your ass or your mouth," I told him, grabbing a bottle of lube and holding it high in the air.

"Which is it, Webb?"