He got a wide smile as Jory stripped off his clothes and, with flattering speed, exposed acres of silky skin. He covered the smaller man by instinct, wrapping his body around Jory's frame and his hand around the other man's hard prick. The smell of his mate's desire brought out his incisors, and before his head could overrule his heart, he sank them into one slim shoulder.
"Fuck," Jory screamed as he came, his seed shooting out over Rai's hand.
The feel of his mate coming sent Rai over the edge again, spurting all over his mate's pebbled abs. The smell of spunk scented the air in wafts of testosterone-filled clouds.
With a final growl, Rai retracted his teeth, absently licking his mate's shoulder. Wild dragons couldn't hold back the smile crossing his face. "You're my mate now, sweet Joriah."
Jory slid out of Rai's embrace. "Mate? I don't know about that."
Rai didn't understand Jory's resistance. "You came to find a mate, and now that you have, I don't know what the problem is."
Jory shook his head slowly. "Val said I was his. You were supposed to be my second encounter, not my mate." Grabbing a towel by the sink, the younger man cleaned off his skin.
Rai growled. "Tough, you're mine so adjust."
He winced as he heard himself, but he just couldn't stop the words coming out of his mouth. His dragon wanted its mate, and Jory's denial wasn't acceptable to his beast. Nothing would prevent him from claiming his mate even the very man he was fighting with.
Jory pulled on his clothes in short angry jerks and headed for the door.
Rai grabbed the younger man's arm on the way out. "Give me your communicator."
"Why?" Jory scowled.
"Because when we both calm down later, I'll call you and we can discuss our mating like civilized men."
Jory pulled out his communicator, a device so top of the line Rai didn't even know they'd come out yet. "Nice."
The beauty shrugged. "My father got it for me."
Something hard and tight loosened in Rai's chest. It was far easier to supplant a father who provided well for his son, than to wean him from a well providing lover. With a lighter heart, he typed in his com-code while lifting Jory's number from the communicator's memory. With his resources, he would be able to track his lover from the machine's signal alone. "I added my mate hunt code in your address book. Give me yours so we can register our encounter."
Jory rattled off his number. Rai was pleased when Jory gave him a gentle goodbye kiss before he slipped out the door. Now wasn't the time to press his suit. With a few well-placed calls, the man wouldn't be able to leave the planet or even the city without a zillion alarms going off.
Smiling, he straightened the room up and went out the back door, returning to the palace with a jaunty step to his stride.
Chapter Six
Jory sighed as the sound of the club faded behind him. Strangely, when Val mentioned possibly being his mate earlier, it hadn't sounded so bad. However, the reality of the statement from Rai made it a big, scary proposition. With the gorgeous, gentle Val, he could imagine a nice calm life where he lived comfortably while wheedling intergalactic peace out of his father, but Rai struck him as the type who would accept no persuasion and do things his own hardheaded way. He wasn't the type of man you wrapped around your finger.
Both men pulled him in different directions, but maybe it was better to have no mate than to have one who wasn't your perfect match. He'd have to ask Frest.
The fact that he was required by the mating hunt rules assuaged some of his guilt but shattered his usual policy of only seeing one man at a time. Strange, he didn't usually get attached to hookups. Laughing at his own idiocy, Jory headed down the deserted street towards the castle. At least he thought it was towards the castle. The curving roads and random signage had him completely turned around. The streets were nothing like the familiar grid pattern of his home.
A shrill scream snapped Jory's attention away from his thoughts and towards a side alley. Jeering shouts echoed against the stone buildings on either side.
"Look at it run."
"Stupid creature."
"Throw another rock at it."
He heard another scream. The sound of terror sent shivers up his spine.
Jory ran towards the screams. The metal on the soles of his boots rang out against the concrete as he approached. Turning the corner, he saw three young boys throwing rocks at a small black creature hovering at the end of the alley. It screamed again as a rock sailed too close to its head.
"Stop that now," he shouted, his heart wrenching at the animal's pitiful cries.
The three boys turned around. All brown-haired and grimy-faced with old, street-wise eyes, they showed no fear of an adult. Granted he wasn't much bigger than the tallest of them, but they looked to be in their early teens, too young to have eyes so ancient.
