“I asked where you were planning to sleep tonight?”the human repeated.
With whoever pays me the most to share his bed.But Cameron couldn’t make those words leave his lips.Everyone in the room had probably guessed as much.But, suddenly, he wasn’t so sure that throwing the facts of his life in their faces would humiliatethem.
“Will you come and stay with us?”the same man asked.
Cameron looked him up and down, taking care that everyone should spot the gesture.“Thanks, honey, but you’re not my type.”
“You’re not his type either,” Arslan snapped.“Show some respect!”
Cameron straightened up.He wasn’t as tall as Arslan, or as broad across the shoulders, but he didn’t falter.“Maybe I don’t see anything here worth respecting.”
He’d forgotten that Arslan’s hand was still outstretched.Before he could react, Arslan had a tight grip around his wrist.Pulling him forward as he twisted the limb up between them, sending a jolt of discomfort shooting up Cameron’s arm.
Cameron still held Arslan’s gaze, but he was very aware now that what he was feeling was mild discomfort, not pain.Arslan could easily hurt him if he wanted to, but right then, he was choosing not to.Cameron hesitated.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”Franklin burst out.He tugged at Arslan’s arm, a move that had no effect whatsoever on Arslan’s hold on Cameron.
“Yes, do be careful, darling,” Cameron spat, as he suddenly remembered how the world really was.“Don’t damage the merchandise.He’s already invested far too much in me to see it wasted just because you can’t control your temper.”
“You’re a lion, not some rich fool’s toy—start acting like you know that,” Arslan ordered.
As he let him go, Arslan looked around the room.“Pack whatever you want to bring with you.You’ll stay at the den until suitable arrangements can be made.”
“What the hell makes you think I’m yours to command?”Cameron snarled, as he stepped back, stopping only when he backed into the shelf.
“You’re a lion.You’re in my territory.”Arslan didn’t add anything else to those statements.He obviously didn’t think there was anything else he needed to say.
“That wasn’t what we agreed,” Franklin cut in.
Cameron immediately turned his attention toward him.The guy looked as if he was about to have a coronary—yet, he still somehow managed to call to Cameron in a way no human ever had.
Arslan looked from Franklin to Cameron and back again then, apparently trying to judge what they were to each other and what his next move should be.
Cameron’s heart raced faster than ever as he waited for Arslan’s verdict.
“You’re also welcome to stay with us for a few days,” Arslan announced.
Cameron’s claws sliced clean through the shelf behind him.“I’m not—”
Arslan held up a hand.“In a separate room from Cameron’s,” he clarified.He turned back to Franklin.“We helped you find him.We won’t help you buy him.Your money will mean nothing to anyone at the den.Reach for your wallet, and you’ll be thrown out—immediately.”
Franklin looked toward Cameron then, so did every other pair of eyes in the room.He should have been used to being the centre of attention after spending so many hours up on that damn stage.Still, he felt an uncomfortable shiver run down his spine.
He glanced uncertainly from one man to another until his eyes finally came to rest on the human who’d first invited him to stay with the pride.
“I’m Ryland,” the man said.“Arslan’s mate.”He held out his hand.
With his mind racing in a hundred different directions, habit and the kind of manners he’d thought he’d forgotten a lifetime ago, came to the fore.Cameron reached out and put his hand in Ryland’s.Ryland smiled, and, when he let go of Cameron’s hand, he gently released it in Arslan’s direction.
Cameron found himself shaking hands with him, too.And, suddenly, it seemed everything had been decided, without his brain getting a single vote in the matter.
The next man holding out his hand was Franklin.Cameron turned toward him, confusion spiralling out of control inside him.He wanted nothing more than to reach out to him to touch him and not just for some silly little handshake.He wanted to touch every inch of him, strip him down and screw him right there in front of everyone, taste him and explore him and claim him in every way a lion could.
But he also knew that everything would almost certainly be over the moment he laid hand on him.Once he gave in to that temptation, he’d never be able to find the strength to walk away from him.He needed to run now, while he still had the chance.
*
It was just a handshake.Franklin knew that.But it didn’t change the fact that it still felt far better than anything quite a few of his one-night stands had been able to do for him over the years.Just that tiny bit of skin-on-skin contact made Franklin’s cock jerk behind his fly.
