Derick, page 8
part #2 of Whitedell Pride Seres Series
Derick groaned when Nate palmed his own erection, leisurely stroking it up and down as his heated eyes roamed over Derick’s body. The display in front of Derick reminded him of their mating night, when Nate had also been standing there while Derick touched him, but this time Derick wanted to do so much more than that. Pulling himself up, he slid his pants down his legs and pulled them off before getting on all four and nearing Nate. This time he didn’t touch, at least not with his hands. Sticking his tongue out, Derick gave a tentative lick at the head of Nate’s cock.
It was already so dark and swollen that Derick was impressed Nate hadn’t come yet. A clear drop of pre-cum beaded on the tip, and Derick licked it away while Nate grabbed the base of his cock and held it up for him. Humming in pleasure, Derick put his lips around the sensitive head and sucked, causing Nate to moan as his mate’s other hand wound in Derick’s hair.
Derick went down, taking more of Nate’s hard shaft in his mouth before coming back up, hollowing his cheeks as his tongue danced along the veins he could feel right under the skin. He did this several times before Nate stopped him.
“Don’t move.”
Nate’s cock popped from Derick’s mouth as the jaguar disappeared from his sight. Derick heard his mate opening the nightstand’s drawer and he grinned. Nate was taking the lube, which meant that Derick was about to get fucked!
The bed dipped behind him and Nate caressed Derick’s buttocks, palming and kneading them.
“I told you that I was going to take you like this,” Nate growled.
A week had passed since their mating, and it had been hard for them to find enough time to be together like this. Nate had had to work hard to make sure that the pride would be safe in the eventuality that the pack really attacked, so he had come back to their room exhausted every night. They did have sex, but they hadn’t had the time or the energy to fully enjoy each other’s body, and this was the first time Nate would take Derick from behind.
Derick shivered at the thought, but when he felt Nate’s hands move from his back to his thighs, all rational thoughts left him. Derick fully expected to feel a slick finger against his entrance and he yelped when he realized that it wasn’t a finger, but Nate’s tongue.
“What…what are you doing?” he panted. No one had ever done this to him and he’d always thought it was gross, but…as Nate’s tongue licked and pushed in, Derick decided that as long as it was Nate doing it to him, he was going to enjoy this.
Pleasure coursed through Derick as Nate’s tongue penetrated the tight ring of muscles, and he had to grab the base of his cock to avoid coming right then and there. He wanted to wait for Nate to be deep inside him when he came.
“You need to fuck me, right now, or I’m going to come.”
Nate chuckled from Derick’s ass and Derick blushed. He might have decided that it wasn’t gross, but he still found it embarrassing.
“Can you hold on a little bit more? I have to prep you.”
“Uh huh,” Derick nodded. “Just be quick.”
Nate was already moving, not wasting any time, and Derick felt him breach his pucker. Nate moved his fingers in and out until Derick was bucking and fucking himself on them, the room filled with his moans and whimpers.
“I’m ready, come on!” Derick needed his mate to claim him again, now.
He felt Nate move, his body now flush to Derick’s, then something big pressed against his hole, slowly pushing in. Derick sighed when it popped in and Nate slid in smoothly until Derick felt his mate’s balls on his skin. Nate’s hands were curled around Derick’s hips, holding him hard as he started moving, pounding into Derick’s ass.
Derick let go of his cock, not wanting to crash down, because he couldn’t stay upright on only one hand. Besides, now that Nate was inside him, he could let go, and let go he did. His balls tightened as Nate’s rhythm accelerated and after only a few more strokes, each and every one of them hitting his prostate dead on, Derick came, spurting white cum on the comforter under him. He panted and moaned through it until his balls finally emptied, leaving him so tired that he thought he could fall asleep right there and then.
It took Nate only a few more strokes and moves of his hips to come, and Derick felt warmth filling him while Nate slowed down and stayed still for a while, his hands stroking Derick’s back until Derick literally collapsed right in the wet spot.
“Ugh. Sticky,” he complained.
Nate slid his softening cock from Derick’s hole and grabbed him, manhandling him until he was cleaned up and snuggled in Nate’s arms.
“I’m sorry,” Nate whispered in Derick’s hair, and Derick had to think through the exhaustion to answer.
“For what?”
“I wanted this to be for you, to go slow, but…”
Derick kissed Nate’s chest. “It was perfect. Slow is overrated anyway.” Nate chuckled at that. “Seriously, you were perfect. It’s exactly what I needed.”
Nate grunted. “Fine. Sleep now.”
Everything really was perfect in Derick’s world.
* * * *
The wolves were being too damn silent for Nate’s taste. He’d expected them to come to Dominic and ask that Nate be handed to them to make him pay for the trespass. They might not be able to ask to punish him for taking away Derick, since they shouldn’t have had him in the first place, but he’d at least expected they’d want him to pay for trespassing. They could ask for that even though they didn’t have a fucking proof he had really been there, but he couldn’t ask for reparation because they took Derick, because if he hadn’t trespassed he wouldn’t have had proof they had been the ones to take him. Talk about a fucked up situation.
Derick was taking this entire thing well, maybe too well. Or maybe it was just that Nate should have more faith in his mate. He had expected Derick to withdraw a bit, to avoid being with people he didn’t know well in the pride, but Derick acted as he had before the kidnapping. He was fun, he talked with everyone, and he did his chores around the house without problems even though Dominic had told him to rest and recover before moving around too much. Derick had waved them both away, saying that he was perfectly fine and that he’d had to live through worst things when he was still living in the pack.
That had made Nate want to go there and tear them all apart one by one. Derick had never told him exactly what his old pack had done to him and he probably never would, but it didn’t take a genius to know that he’d been treated badly for being gay. It wasn’t surprising. Most shifters still looked at mating as a way to increase the pack’s, pride’s or other shifters’ numbers. The more members a pack had, the more powerful it was, or at least that was how it used to work. But now that technology had progressed so much, what would have taken ten men to do, like patrol the grounds around the mansion, only took four of them, the rest being checked on by cameras. It was an obsolete way of thinking, and Nate would forever be glad that Dominic had created a pride in which everyone could be exactly as they wanted without anyone taking it out on them.
Nate’s phone chirped and he grabbed it from its place on his desk. Derick had taken to sending him short messages just to keep in touch, and Nate was glad to have at least that small connection with his mate. Their life was not easy right now—the pride was still on high alert for a wolf attack, and it was wearing on everyone’s nerves to keep vigilant for so long without anything happening. Nate had had to break several fights that occurred when the tension became too much and one or more pride members had snapped, taking it out on each other.
Love you. Think you can come home early today?
Nate sighed. He would try, of course, but he couldn’t be sure. He had always loved being Dominic’s Beta, had been honored when the man had chosen him, but now that he had a private life it, was becoming hard to continue to love his job. Nate just had to hope that once this situation with the wolves settled, things would go back to normal. Maybe he could take Derick away, travel a bit together, like a honeymoon or something. Now that was an idea Nate needed to examine in depth.
A knock on the door interrupted Nate’s thoughts, pulling him away from the vivid image of him making love to Derick on a sandy beach he had created in his head. Groaning, he reached down and adjusted his erection before calling out to the person at the door to enter. Bryce’s head poked from it.
“Can I come in?”
“Sure.” Nate indicated one of the chairs in front of his desk. “What can I do for you?”
Bryce shifted uncomfortably in the chair, his hands clasped on his knees. “Well, I was wondering if you could do something for me.”
“I don’t know Bryce. What do you want me to do?”
“Uh, well…I know you and Keenan are somehow friends, and I was wondering if you could talk to him. I know that he listens to you.”
Nate wanted to help his friend—well, friends—but he knew the two of them wanted and needed different things, so he could help only one of them, and he so didn’t want to choose.
“I think I know what you want from me, but I’m afraid I have to say no.”
Bryce’s face paled. “But why? I love him, you know I do. I don’t understand why all of you are so set against me!” Bryce’s voice was angry and while Nate understood him, he couldn’t do anything.
“I know you love him, and I know he loves you too, but you always knew that one day the two of you would have to part, either because you found your mate or because he would have aged faster than you.”
“I don’t care about that! I’ll stay with Keenan no matter what, even when he’s gray and old.”
Nate sighed. “I know that, Bryce, but try to look at things from Keenan’s point of view. He knows exactly what finding a mate means, so he knows he will never be enough for you. He set you free because he loves you too much to keep you chained to him when the other half of your soul has found you. You are only hurting him even more by clinging to him, and we both know that it’s more because you’re a stubborn man than because of the love you feel for him. You know it would take little time to fall for Finn if you only gave him a chance.”
Bryce grunted and got up, heading for the door.
“I’m sorry I can’t help you, Bryce, but I think I’m doing the best thing for Keenan. You can try to talk to him again, but I don’t think it will change anything.” Nate winced as the door slammed behind his friend. Damn, he was really glad he wasn’t in Bryce’s situation. But then even if he was, he didn’t think he would have clung to Keenan like this. Bryce was trying to make Keenan come back to him but Keenan had decided as soon as he’d found out about Finn that things were over between them, and he’d done the right thing. Bryce just had to take his head out of his ass and realize it.
Bryce’s request for help made Nate realize that he’d been so taken up in his wolf problems that he hadn’t thought much about the ones he already had under his own roof. As a Beta he not only had to take care of the pride as a whole, but also of every individual who composed it, and he knew about another few people who were having problems. Nate got up, deciding to go and look for Oliver.
He knew where he would find him, of course. The poor man hadn’t left his room in days, maybe more, and Nate couldn’t blame him. Oliver had been experimented on, his DNA messed with, and now he had to deal with an inner bear that couldn’t come out, ever. Nate would go mad if he couldn’t let his jaguar out once in a while, to let him run free in the forest or even only to let Derick pet him. They were trying to help Oliver as best as they could, but no one in the pride was an expert on DNA, and they didn’t have much contacts with other groups of shifters, which was dumb. Maybe they could create a web between the ones willing to help each other.
Knocking at Oliver’s door, he waited for him to answer. He knew the man was in there, he could hear him breathe and move, but Oliver didn’t answer, even after Nate had tried more than a few times. Sighing, he turned around and headed back to his office.
Chapter Five
Derick was helping Keenan, Jamie and Ward cook.
“Why can’t we just order pizza?” Keenan grumbled from where he was cutting onions. “I hate this shit, it smells bad and it makes me cry!”
“You know Dominic doesn’t consider take-out cooking, Keenan. You would just have to cook tomorrow,” Jamie told his brother.
The pride didn’t function like Derick’s old pack. There, someone was assigned to things like cooking or taking care of the pups and had to stick with it, but here, everyone took a turn at everything. Those who just couldn’t cook, like Keenan, had to help cutting stuff and wash vegetables. Derick was actually good at cooking, since he’d been the one doing it at home. Neither of his parents had bothered cooking for the four of them, so usually if he wanted to eat something hot he’d had to cook it himself.
That made him think about his brother, and Derick wondered if Duncan had had trouble for helping them escape. Nate had told him that the two shifters who had come with him to rescue Derick had met Duncan when he’d been at the mansion and had asked for his help when Nate had been captured and closed in the cell. Duncan had helped them neutralize the guard that Alpha Erskine had left there and the one guarding Nate before helping them to escape in the woods. Derick had wanted Duncan to come with them to the mansion, but his brother had refused, and Derick couldn’t really understand why. Sure, Duncan wasn’t frowned upon like Derick had been, but he didn’t have real friends and their family…he knew Duncan could do without it.
“Derick? Did you hear me?” Keenan asked, right behind Derick, making him jump.
“Sorry, I was lost in my thoughts.”
“Want to talk about it?”
“I don’t know…I’m not really used to talk about these things.”
“Well, get used to it, because now you have friends who are curious.” Keenan draped his arm around Derick’s shoulder. “So, what’s on your mind?”
“I was thinking about my family. The only one I’m close to is Duncan. My aunt and uncle pretty much ignore me, but my parents…”
“What did they do?”
“The usual gay is bad, I guess. They never accepted my sexuality, but they couldn’t throw me out without the Alpha’s permission, so they tried to hurt me.” At the look of horror on Keenan’s face Derick quickly continued, “Not physically, but calling me names and stuff like that. I was glad when I got permission to go and live with Duncan, and I haven’t really talked to them since then, so…it’s not like I miss them or something, I’m just worried for Duncan.”
Keenan nodded. “I can understand that. Jamie was all I had left from my family before we came here, and when he was kidnapped, I would have done anything to have him safe.”
“Why don’t we talk about something less gloomy, uh? What about Bryce? I saw him watching you. Is there something between the two of you?” Derick knew he’d said something he shouldn’t have when Keenan paled and Jamie and Ward abruptly stopped talking and looked at Keenan with worry in their eyes. “Umm, forget it, you don’t have to tell me.”
“No, it’s okay. We, uh, we used to date but I broke up with him.” Derick didn’t say anything, not wanting to put his foot in his more once again. “We loved each other, but he found his mate.”
Derick was confused. If Bryce had found his mate, why was he still after Keenan? It must have shown on his face because Keenan went on, “Bryce told me that I’m the one he loves and that he doesn’t want his mate, but I know better, so I won’t take him back even if he still tries.” Keenan made an attempt to smile but Derick could see how heartbroken he was.
“Maybe you’ll find out you have a mate too,” Derick tried to comfort him, patting Keenan’s shoulder.
“That would be nice.”
No one talked after that and the silence was becoming awkward until Casey’s head appeared at the door and he asked if they needed help. His easy chatter got Keenan out of his sad mood and he started joking and talking again. Derick was relieved and he swore to himself that he was never going to talk about Bryce in front of Keenan again. It was too hard to see the lively man transform in a sad shell of himself.
Derick was cleaning up as Casey finished frying the chicken when an arm slid around his waist, pulling him back against a hard chest and making him yelp in surprise. “Nate,” Derick said with a big smile on his lips, “what are you doing here?”
“I wanted to see you.” Nate nuzzled Derick cheek. “I missed you.”
“Oooh, look who’s all lovey-dovey! I would never have thought to hear those words coming from Nate’s mouth!” Keenan exclaimed with a snicker.
“Keenan, one of those days I’ll take you out and I’ll abandon you somewhere far away so that you can’t come back,” Nate threatened, but everyone knew he was just having fun. It seemed like those too hated each other, but they really were like two brothers.
Their easy banter was interrupted by the piercing sound of the alarm going off. Nate immediately slipped into his Beta role and gripped Derick’s arm, turning him toward Ward.
“What’s going on?” Derick asked him, even if he had a pretty good idea.
“Someone broke into the property. Ward, take Jamie, Keenan and Derick and get in one of the secured rooms. Casey, you’re with me.”
Nate was already walking out of the room when Derick grabbed him and placed a quick kiss on his lips. “Stay safe.” Nate looked a little stunned but he nodded and gave Derick another kiss.
“You too. Stay with Ward, he’ll protect you.”
Derick watched as his mate walked away, terrorized at the thought that he might never see him again. What if something happened to him? He hadn’t even told Nate that he loved him! Derick had tried to find the guts to tell him for days now, but he’d been scared that it was too soon and that Nate might run, afraid of emotions as he was, and now he might never have the chance to tell him.
