“Yeah,” Grady agreed as he kicked back on the sofa, “you did. Just give him time, man. He’s confused, but he’s still here, right?”

  “Did you tell him about you?” Talking to his best friend about Lachlan didn’t come easy, not like it should. While Lachlan had been ignoring him for a week, he’d been very chummy with Grady.

  “He fuckin’ smart, Xe. He guessed, and I just didn’t lie to him.”

  “Weren’t you the one who was just lecturing me about the rules and saying I was going to get us all killed?” His jealousy, which always seemed to simmer just below the surface these days, came roaring to life. “It’s okay for you, though, right?”

  “Oh, get over yourself. He already knew, so I’m guessing you told him. Besides, as your mate, the rules don’t apply anymore. No laws have been broken, I talked to Lachlan about keeping quiet, and that’s that.” Digging the remote out from between the cushions, Grady snorted as he flipped on the television. “Relax. You’re tighter than a virgin’s asshole.”

  “He won’t talk to me.”

  “You claimed him without permission, without even telling him what you are. Then you told him you loved him like you’d talk about making a sandwich. If that wasn’t bad enough, you then proceeded to tell him exactly how things would be and how great of a gift you’d given him by claiming him.” Grady snorted again and rolled his eyes. “Can you blame him for being pissed?”

  “He’s mad?” Sitting up straighter on the sofa, Lachlan turned to face Grady and jerked the remote out of his hand. “I thought he just needed some time. Why didn’t you tell me he was pissed?”

  “Calm down, Debby Drama. He’ll get over it.”

  Throwing the remote at Grady’s chest, Lachlan growled as he leapt over the back of the couch and marched down the hallway toward his office. All week, he’d thought Lachlan needed space, and he’d tried to respect that. Now, he realized he had a lot of explaining to do, and possibly even more groveling.

  He knocked twice at the door, respecting the boundaries his mate had erected between them, even though he wanted to just barge right inside. “Lachlan, can I come in?”

  “Sure.”

  Stepping into the room, he found Lachlan perched in the desk chair with his fingers flying across the keyboard. “How’s it going?”

  “One second. Let me just finish up this paragraph.” He continued typing for several more seconds before sitting back and looking up at Xeno with a bright smile. “Hey, what’s up?”

  “You tell me. You’ve been avoiding me all week.”

  “I haven’t been avoiding you.” Lachlan swiveled in the chair to face Xeno when he plopped down on the bean bag in the corner. “I’ve been working.”

  “You’ve been avoiding, but I get it. I got a little excited and put a lot of pressure on you to be just as excited. I’m sorry, sweetheart. We can go as slow as you need.” Gods, he was fucking up all over again. Dropping his head into his hands with a heavy sigh, he took a few deep breaths before speaking again. “I know it seems like I’m not giving you a choice, but I just want you to stay so much.” He shook his head hard. “Fuck, I’m no good at this.”

  The floorboards creaked, and a pair of small, dainty feet appeared in his line of vision. Lifting his head, his heart nearly stopped when Lachlan straddled his thighs and cradled his jaw in both hands. “I think you’re doing just fine. Keep going.”

  “I know it hasn’t been very long, but I love you, Lachlan. I think I’ve loved you since the first time I saw you sitting alone in the corner of the café. Then the thought of you leaving makes it hard to breathe, and I say the wrong thing or do something stupid.”

  “I was scared, Xe, that’s all. You didn’t do anything wrong. I’ve never had a relationship last longer than three months, and there you were talking about love and eternity.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Stop.” Lachlan laughed and kissed Xeno’s forehead. “I also had to figure out if what I felt was real, or if it was some side effect of this destined bond thing between us.”

  “Did you figure it out?”

  “Yeah, Grady helped a lot with that, but I get it now. Things are a little more intense because of it, but our connection only amplifies what I’m already feeling.”

  Xeno swallowed hard and licked his dry lips. “And what are you feeling?”

  “I’m ready, now. It’s okay to let myself hope for more, to believe in happy endings.”

  Xeno didn’t know what the hell that meant, but it sounded good. “Okay.”

  Laughing freely, Lachlan grabbed his face and kissed him deeply. “I love you, Xeno. Who cares if it’s only been a couple of weeks? I believe in all kinds of amazing things like ghosts, aliens, and werewolves.” He tossed a wink at Xeno as he giggled. “It’s not a stretch to believe in love at first sight or that some greater power lead us together. I know what I feel, and fuck anyone who tells me I’m wrong.”

  Echoing Lachlan’s laughter, Xeno rolled his mate beneath him and claimed his lips in a sensual kiss full of promises. “Go get ’em, tiger.”

  “I will.” Lachlan nodded resolutely. “First, I have to finish this manuscript, though, so off you go.”

  “You’re kicking me out?”

  “Yes. Christmas is in less than a week, and there are no decorations, no tree, and we don’t even have food for Christmas dinner. So, you’re going shopping, and I’m going back to work.”

  “You’re a slave driver,” Xeno pouted playfully.

  Lachlan giggled again. “When you get back, I want to see that shift thing you do again. That is seriously cool. Is it just the eyes and fangs and claws? Or do you go all beastmode with the fur and everything?”

  “Just the stuff you’ve seen,” Xeno confirmed. “There are a lot of different types of werewolves, and my kind isn’t as impressive with the physical changes.”

  “Oh, I don’t know about that.” Slipping a hand between them, Lachlan squeezed Xeno’s cock through his jeans and smirked. “Don’t be gone too long.”

  With the promise of sweaty, naked, kinky fun when he returned, Lachlan forced Grady out of the house with him to help fulfill Lachlan’s dream of the perfect Christmas. Three hours, five stores, and a few hundred dollars later, they had a carload of decorations sure to make it look like holiday cheer had thrown up in their house.

  “Do you think he’ll like it?”

  “You’re cute when you’re nervous,” Grady joked. “He’ll love it.” They carried in the last of the bags from the car, and stood together, staring at the mountain of purchases. “Go ask if he wants to help put these up. I have a feeling he’ll be better at it than we are.”

  “Good point.” Jogging down the hall, Xeno gave a perfunctory knock at the door before walking into his office. “Hey, baby, why don’t you take a break and come help us decorate?”

  Lachlan didn’t answer right away, and he stared at the computer screen—Xeno’s computer—with pursed lips and a wrinkled brow. “Xe, what is this?”

  * * * *

  When Lachlan’s computer decided it no longer wanted to hold a charge, Xeno had been kind enough to loan him his desktop. Lachlan hadn’t meant to snoop, but the title of the file in the documents folder had caught his attention because he’d used the same title for his latest manuscript.

  Within just a few pages, his heart began to pound, his hands shook, and his stomach fell somewhere to the vicinity of his butt. The words were different, as well as the variation in sentence structure, but the story played out on the screen just as it had in his dreams—just as he’d written it in his book.

  “Xe, answer me. What is this?”

  Circling the desk to stand behind him, Xeno rested his hands on Lachlan’s shoulders and kissed the top of his head. “It’s nothing. Just something I was playing with.”

  “This is the story I’ve been dreaming about. It’s all here.” Shifting in his seat, he looked around at his lover. “What’s going on?”

  With a defeated sigh, Xeno scrubbed both hands over his face and walked over to sit on the bean bag. “When we first met, you weren’t sleeping, and you were barely eating. That night I stayed over and we ordered Chinese, you fell asleep…and you were dreaming about the accident.”

  “You were in my dream.” It made sense. After all, what else would a dreamwalker do?

  “I know I shouldn’t have invaded your privacy like that, but you were so sad, sweetheart. I just wanted to help, to take away some of that pain.”

  “So you gave me a different dream instead.”

  “I’m not a storyteller like you, though. When I saw the dreams were helping, when you were sleeping better, I wanted to keep going, but I can’t make stuff up on the fly.” He pointed to the monitor. “That’s what that is. I’d write down the next part of the story to help me create the world in your dreams.” He tilted his head to the side and rubbed at the back of his neck. “Are you mad?”

  He looked like a scared little boy, and while Lachlan had a moral dilemma about his own manuscript now, he couldn’t find it in his heart to be angry with Xeno. “No, I’m not mad. It did work, and I can’t say I miss the nightmares.” Walking over to his mate—that would take some getting used to—he kneeled in front of him and rested a hand on Xeno’s knee. “I think it’s sweet, and I believe you did it because you care about me, so thank you.”

  “I love you,” Xeno answered simply. “C’mon, baby. Holiday magic awaits, and we need to get some food in you.”

  “Xe…you’re wrong, ya know? You are an amazing storyteller. I really think you could get the story published.”

  “Nah, it’s not even finished.”

  Lachlan really needed the advance on his submission, but his conscious wouldn’t let him take credit for someone else’s ideas. “Think about it, okay?”

  “Thanks for saying that, but I know I’m not as good as you.” Xeno stood and pulled Lachlan to his feet as well. “I’m more than satisfied to know the dreams give you inspiration to write again. I love the way you light up when you’re writing.”

  Following his lover out of the room, Lachlan gnawed on the inside of his cheek and twirled his fingers together all the way to the living room. The story only needed a good ending, maybe a chapter or two, and it would be ready for submission. He hadn’t lied to spare Xeno’s feelings, either. Lachlan had embellished a few points, and created some of his own details, but the original story could hold its own without Lachlan’s help.

  He went through the motions, hanging garland and decorating the beautiful evergreen tree Xeno had brought home, but the entire time, he warred with himself over what to do. He thought about it while they ate pizza. While Grady and Xeno yelled at the football game on television, he thought about it then. During his shower, he continued to struggle with how to proceed, and even when he crawled into bed for the night, he kept thinking about that damn manuscript.

  “Hey, is everything okay?” Xeno curled up behind him on the mattress, pressing the length of his nude body along Lachlan’s back. “You’ve been quiet.”

  “Just thinking.” Technically, it was the truth. “Actually, I think I’m going to go work for a little bit.”

  “I guess I’ll have to get used to this, huh? You sneaking off in the middle of the night to play with your imaginary friends?”

  “Occupational hazard, love.” Rolling over, he kissed Xeno and smiled. “Get some sleep. I’ll be back.”

  Before he could move away, Xeno caught him around the waist and pulled him in for a toe-curling kiss. “Are you sure I can’t persuade you to stay?”

  He really shouldn’t. He’d finally come to a decision, and he didn’t have a lot of time to put his plan in place. The slow glide of Xeno’s tongue over his, and the hard cock pressing into his hip made staying too tempting to resist, though.

  “Mmm, maybe. What did you have in mind?”

  * * * *

  “That’s it, baby. Scream for me.” Wrapping his hand around Lachlan’s nape, Xeno pinned him to the mattress as he pounded into his hot, tight channel. His mate’s inner walls squeezed him like a glove, massaging his throbbing cock in intense pulses.

  Once Lachlan had given him the green light, he’d wasted no time in retrieving the lube and stretching his lover. All week, he’d watched from a far, or played with Lachlan in his dreams, but he’d been craving physical contact.

  Lachlan’s taut, supple skin stretched over his lean muscles as the man writhed beneath him, and the thin sheen of sweat glistened in the soft light from the bedside lamp. Gods, his mate was beautiful, he dared anyone to deny it, and Xeno didn’t know what he’d done to be granted such a gift, but he would never take Lachlan for granted.

  As his sac tightened and electricity zipped along his spine, his canines lengthened with such force, he actually gasped. Pulling out of his lover’s tight ass, he lifted Lachlan from the bed, spun him around, and pressed his chest against the wall, covering his smaller frame and pinning him in place. Then he lined up the head of his cock, teased the fluttering starburst for a moment, and shoved in with a loud, echoing groan.

  Pistoning his hips, he hammered into Lachlan’s yielding body, plunging deeper with each thrust. “Fuck, that’s pretty,” he panted as watched his cock disappear into Lachlan’s ass once again. “Come for me, baby. I want to see you shake.”

  Sliding his hand down the flat expanse of Lachlan’s stomach, he caught his lover’s bouncing dick and squeezed around the head before stroking the shaft in tandem with his thrusts. Lachlan’s loud moans and needy whimpers sent his pulse racing. He couldn’t get enough of those sweet sounds, but he really wanted to hear his partner scream.

  “Xe, please!” Lachlan leaned his head to the side, exposing the delicate curve of his neck. “Please!”

  Kissing along the smooth column from Lachlan’s ear to the apex of his shoulder, Xeno fisted his hand in the man’s hair, held him steady, and sunk his fangs into the sweet flesh. Lachlan bucked in his arms, screaming loud enough to wake the dead as a river of semen erupted from his slit to splash against the wall.

  The constriction of his muscles held Xeno like a vise, milking his cock and demanding every drop of seed. As he filled his mate to overflowing, he gently removed his mouth from Lachlan’s neck and nuzzled against his shoulder. A smile tilted the corners of his lips when he felt the man tremble in his arms, but the soft, happy sigh that reached his ears melted his heart.

  “I love you, Xe,” Lachlan whispered. “I’m going to make this right.”

  He didn’t have any idea what Lachlan meant. Nothing needed to be fixed or made right, but he didn’t feel like arguing. He just wanted to clean up, fall into bed, and wake up with his mate in his arms. “I love you, too. Always.”

  Epilogue

  “Good morning, baby. Merry Christmas.”

  Life had been nearly perfect since they’d confessed their feelings and moved past the giant elephant in the room. He couldn’t get enough of Xeno, and while he imagined the flames would eventually settle to a more manageable smolder, he enjoyed his mate’s passion and insatiability.

  Grinning widely, he popped up, stretched his arms over his head, and jumped out of bed. “Merry Christmas. C’mon, get up. Get up.”

  “It’s Christmas,” Xeno protested, “not the Apocalypse. The presents aren’t going anywhere.”

  “I know that, but get up anyway.” Lachlan couldn’t keep a secret to save his life, but he’d kept this one. Now, however, he couldn’t wait to see the look on Xeno’s face when he opened his present. “I have something for you. Please?”

  “Or you could go get it and bring it to me.”

  Lachlan thought it over for about half a second before bolting from the room. Just in case his idea backfired, it would probably be better to present Xeno with his gift in private. Once back in the bedroom, he shut the door and shuffled toward the bed, holding Xeno’s present in both hands.

  “What is it?” Xeno propped himself up against the headboard and frowned as he took the envelope from Lachlan’s hand.

  “Open it.”

  Xeno rolled his eyes, but he did as instructed, tearing the envelope open and extracting the sheet of paper inside. “Lachlan, I don’t—”

  “Just read it. Out loud. Go on.”

  With an indulgent grin, Xeno unfolded the paper, scanned it quickly, and began to read aloud. “Lachlan, I’m so excited you’re writing again. When I saw your email in my inbox, I had to read it right away, and I have to say, you’ve outdone yourself. I don’t know who your partner is, but you two are amazing together. I didn’t think it could get better, but this is your best manuscript yet.” Xeno paused and looked up. “It’s a print out of an email. I’m guessing from your editor. I’m proud of you, baby, but I’m still not getting it.”

  Lachlan ducked his head as a blush crept into his cheeks. “Read the subject line.”

  “In My Dreams by Lachlan MacAuley and Xeno Shadowhill.” The paper in his hand trembled, and Xeno began to shake his head. “No. Lachlan, no, this isn’t right. This is your manuscript, your baby, not mine.”

  “I couldn’t have written it without you, Xe. It’s as much your baby as it is mine.”

  “You did all the hard work, though. I can’ accept this.”

  “You can and you will. Like my editor said, we make a good team. Maybe after the holidays, we can start on the next book.”

  “I don’t know what to say.”

  “Say you’ll be my co-author.” Lachlan crawled closer, captured Xeno’s face in both hands, and smiled through the tears that pooled in the corners of his eyes. “I know you said you had no aspiration to be an author, but I’m not blind. I see that hunger in your eyes when you talk about it. It’s okay to want it.”

  “Together,” Xeno answered in a thick whisper. “Only if we do it together.”

  “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

  “I guess I have my very own ghostwriter, huh?”

  “Nope, you have a mate who loves you very much.” Taking the paper from Xeno’s hand, Lachlan tossed it to the floor and straddled his lover’s lap, hoping to entice him into a little holiday cheer of their own. “Merry Christmas, Xe.”

 

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