The heat radiating from a warm body confirmed the speaker was standing within inches of him.Ryland barely had time to register that fact before bare skin brushed against him.
Ryland wasn’t the only man in the driveway who was naked.He instinctively stepped back.
What the—
An embarrassing little yelp escaped from the back of Ryland’s throat as he discovered another, equally naked, man behind him.Suddenly surrounded, he twisted around, searching blindly for an escape route.
“No playing in the driveway!”someone yelled from what Ryland guessed was the direction of the house.“Inside, all of you—now!”
A strong hand grabbed each of Ryland’s bound arms and hurried him forward.
Tile flooring replaced the gravel under his feet.Wooden floorboards replaced tiles and, in turn, gave way to thick carpet.A door slammed behind him.The room they’d reached was stiflingly hot after the chill of the driveway.The rapid change in temperature sent a shiver through him.
Without warning, the hands that had been gripping his arms disappeared.Silence surrounded him once more, broken only by the sound of logs crackling on a fire.For a few seconds, Ryland managed to focus on his actual surroundings rather than all the horrible possibilities that were tangling themselves together his mind.
The heat from the fire was warming the right side of his body.Fire on the right.Door on the left.He knew where he was.Sort of.Well, even if he didn’t, pretending he did made him feel a little bit better about the world.And it had to be better than thinking about the eyes he could feel roaming over his naked body.
Disturbed air caressed his skin.No one laid a hand on him, but he got the distinct impression he was no longer alone in the middle of the room.Someone else was there, circling him, judging him.
Against all reason, Ryland found himself hoping that whoever it was, that they would be pleased with what they saw.He wasn’t under any illusions.Guys weren’t exactly queuing around the block in the rain for him.But he wasn’t so bad.Some guys seemed to like him.
The guy who’d agreed to send him there that night had certainly seemed to like what he’d seen when Ryland had stripped down to “audition” for the part he was about to play in this stupid little game.
Ryland swallowed several times as his nerves threatened to get the better of him.A slow breath in and out failed to calm his rush towards full out panic.
“No one’s going to hurt you.”Once again, the words came from just behind his ear, but this time, they made him freeze rather than try to spin around.It was a different voice, deeper and richer than the one that had purred at him outside.
“You were told we have no interest in unwilling men, correct?”
The silence demanded an answer.
“Yes,” Ryland admitted.And he’d been desperate enough to believe it.Bloody fool…
Something touched his cheek.Ryland let out a terrified little whimper before he realised it was nothing more frightening than someone’s hair brushing against him.Impossibly soft lips placed a gentle kiss on his shoulder; a rough tongue rasped against his skin.
Ryland bit back another whimper as the sensation rushed straight down his spine and headed for his cock.
“Do you know what’s expected of you?”
“Whatever you want.”Ryland cleared his throat.“I have to do whatever you want for the rest of the night.”He had to.If he didn’t, he’d probably be expected to give the money back—which would be pretty bloody difficult, considering he’d already spent every last penny of it paying the remainder of his university fees.
The man standing behind Ryland made a vague noise, halfway between agreement and disagreement as he trailed his lips up Ryland’s neck.The heat from his body standing close behind Ryland overpowered the warmth from the fire, rendering the blaze insignificant, making Ryland desperate to lean back against him.
“Will you tell me what you want me to do?”Ryland asked.
The request was ignored.
Long strands of hair brushed against Ryland’s other cheek as the man moved behind him.“Have you ever taken a lion before?”
Ryland shook his head.But that didn’t mean he hadn’t heard all the tales that were whispered around the university.Werelions lived on campus.A man could make easy money being thrown to the lions.Oh, yes, Ryland knew all the rumours.It was gossip like that that had landed him in this mess in the first place.
Strong.Dominant.Insatiable.Werelions.Half man, half cat.They hunted in groups and shared their captured prey with the rest of the pride.In that moment, Ryland really wished he hadn’t heard the stories, almost as much as he wished the guy hadn’t said the L word.He’d sounded human.It would have been so easy to pretend that he was human.
The man—the lion—leaned forward and closed the gap between them.A hard cock brushed against Ryland’s skin.Against all reason, he felt his own cock twitch in response.The lion moved closer still, lining his body up behind Ryland’s.
Large hands settled on Ryland’s flanks, holding him still, but it didn’t feel like the lion was trying to stop him from escaping.His touch was strong, confident—it seemed to aim to reassure rather than restrain.
Ryland felt a rough tongue flick against his shoulder as the lion kissed the skin there again, and Ryland’s whole body trembled.He bowed his head as an image of a kneeling shifter invaded his mind.The possibilities of that tongue turning its attentions to his cock made him gasp.
