The Defiant Claim - The Claim: Book 2 [LGBTQ+]

Fire licked at his fingers. His toes. His stomach. His chest. His groin. Every stretch of flesh and deep within to his marrows burned with fire. He woke up screaming, his body burning from the inside-out.

Startled, Mik let out a roar of attack but upon realizing that it was Sam screaming in fiery agony, he threw himself on Sam, straddling his hips. He ripped open Sam’s shirt and was about to yank his pants down when he tore himself away with a snarl and slammed into the dresser with a grunt.

“Fuck!” he yelled at himself as he smashed his knee into the dresser. Clutching his groin in one hand and his knee in the other, he slipped down to the floor, grunting and groaning as he bit back a stream of colorful four-letter words.

“Mik, please,” Sam begged, the heat boiling in his veins. The fire within felt as though it was roasting his flesh while he dripped with sweat.

“I can’t!”

Sam arched his back, the pain burning from within his core. “Please! Do something!”

He squeezed his eyes shut. Gritted his teeth. The pain was all-consuming. He couldn’t make sense of anything. He heard a movement from Mik, a snarl, and water turning on.

Sam continued to cry out, calling Mik’s name as he struggled to break free from the fire consuming his body, his ripped clothing, his bed, and blanket.

Finally, Mik’s cold touch came and lifted him up. He was placed into a cold bath that helped ease the pain, but his lower abdomen continued to ache.

“Better?” Mik rasped.

“A little. It still burns.”

“I’ll get another shot ready.”

“What time is it? How long has it been since the last one?”

“I don’t know... five hours?”

“It’s worse,” Sam rasped. “It burns so bad. I need more cold water.”

“It’s as cold as it can get! What do you want? Snow?” Mik snarled and turned away with a grimace, gripping the doorframe tightly as a growl reverberated within him.

“Get the injection then. Hurry.”

Mik left and returned. Once the needle was thrust into Sam’s other thigh, the heat faded away and he was freezing cold.

“Dammit! This sucks!” Sam whined as Mik lifted him out of the cold water and started drying him off. He shivered violently from the sudden intense heat to the rapid cold-snap that followed after the shot of testosterone.

“I’m sorry, Sam, but I can’t do this.”

“We only have two doses left, right? What are we going to do when we run out?”

“I don’t know!” Mik flashed fang. “But I want our first mating to mean something, and now it won’t!”

Sam looked up at Mik with softening eyes. His mate looked flustered but also in pain. He swallowed, his mouth dry as a desert. “We still can.”

“I won’t take advantage of you,” Mik murmured, holding him up but at a distance, his head lowered. “Not like this.”

“You won’t be taking advantage of me if I want it.”

“You can barely stand on your own—how is this not taking advantage of you?” Mik’s throat rumbled. His eyes met Sam’s in a silent challenge.

“What difference does it make? Either you give me what I need now or we both suffer before you give me what I need later. I won’t hold it against you. I’ll be begging for it.”

Mik growled, his eyes bearing into Sam’s. Sam tried to hold his glare, to prove to him that he wasn’t weak, but Mik was still far stronger and more dominant than him and he lowered his gaze and leaned into Mik’s chest.

“I want you too... even though I’m not strong yet. I still want you.”

“That’s the heat talking.”

“No, it’s not. It’s me. The heat will slowly come back but this is me talking. I want you too.”

Mik’s arms wrapped tightly around him and Sam buried his nose into the crook of Mik’s neck. He smelled good. Not aroused-good, but good. Warmth enveloped him as Mik pressed his lips to the side of Sam’s head.

“Is that what you want?” he asked in a low voice.

Sam nodded before his stomach growled. Embarrassment flushed Sam’s cheeks this time. He felt Mik’s lips curve up in a smile against his head.

“Very well. Some food is in order and then we will figure out how to handle this.”

Mik lifted him up and carried him to the couch. He set him down and wrapped a blanket around his shoulders. Going into the kitchen, he warmed up some of the food he had made earlier before joining Sam on the couch to feed him.

After they had eaten, Mik suggested they have a slice of cake since they never got to that earlier. Knowing how difficult that cake was to make, Sam agreed.

Mik brought over a slice for them to share and Sam couldn’t help but grin at him as he lifted a bite of the fluffy cake to Sam’s lips.

Except it was terrible—extremely salty.

He swallowed it down, unable to help the look of disgust on his face as he coughed and demanded water.

While Sam chugged down the water, Mik took a tentative bite and spit it out.

“Dammit! This was the third time! And somehow I confused the sugar with salt!”

Sam was glad that he got the water down before Mik’s outburst because loud guffaws erupted that Sam couldn’t control. Throwing his head back, he laughed at the top of his lungs with tears streaming down his cheeks.

Mik growled as he got up and threw the cake in the trash can, mumbling under his breath as Sam tried to get himself under control.

“Come here, come here,” Sam said through giggles.

Mik plunked himself down next to him, looking ruffled and frustrated with himself as he avoided Sam’s gaze.

Sam pulled him weakly into his arms and nuzzled his neck. “You tried. The cake looked great.”

“I can’t do anything right.”

“Don’t say that. It was the thought that counts. Anyone could have made a mistake like that.”

Mik’s bunched up muscles relaxed and he slipped his arms around Sam, holding him to his body and burying his nose in his hair. “You’re not mad?”

“No! Of course not!”

Mik pressed his lips to Sam’s head. “I’ll make it up to you. I’ll make a new one—the right way next time.”

A grin stretched itself across Sam’s face. “You can make it up to me now.”

Sam pulled away, catching Mik’s questioning eyes as his pupils began to dilate with understanding.

He growled. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I’m hurting already. You have no idea how bad the burn is.”

Mik touched his cheeks, his forehead. “You don’t feel warm.”

“Not yet, but it’s only a matter of time before I do.”

Another growl rumbled from Mik’s chest. Sam met it with his own, a sound of need, of wanting for something his mate was fighting against.

“It’s me wanting you. Not the heat,” Sam assured him, reaching up to cup Mik’s cheek and brush his thumb over the edge of his beard.

Mik was fighting a losing battle as he inhaled and exhaled a shuddering breath. His irises fought for dominance over the pupils. His muscles flexed under his flesh, tensing and shifting; his jaw clenching, grinding his teeth.

“We have time to go slow now,” Sam reminded him. “So it won’t be so sudden and painful later, right?”

The heavy musk of Mik’s arousal proliferated around them. Sam couldn’t help but inhale a deep breath of it and exhale with a vibration of wanting from his chest. Mik met his faint growl with one of his own. Abdominal muscles twisted with anticipation as heat began to burn within Sam’s core—a natural burn of desire compared to the agony he experienced before.

Sam pressed a kiss to Mik’s lips.

“Wait,” Mik grunted.

Sam groaned in protest but Mik was stronger. Lifting him up, he carried Sam to the bed and set him down. Sam tried to latch onto his arm and pull him down next to him, but Mik brushed off his efforts easily as he tromped to the kitchen.

“Mik!”

“Wait.”

Sam refused to listen. He didn’t want to be brushed off again. He called out to Mik again but Mik ignored him as he opened one of the cupboards and pulled out a small bottle.

Darkened eyes turned to meet Sam’s before Mik strode back to the bed with the bottle in hand.

“What’s that?”

“Oil,” Mik told him, “that Oshki gave me. Specially designed for our needs and I trust him to know better than me.”

Sam felt his eyes widen. Was Mik really going to mate with him now, even though he tried to fight against it? “Really?”

“Yes.”

Sam was still naked and he felt the heat of Mik’s stare over his body. Shivering, he reached up with open arms to invite Mik in.

Setting the bottle on the bedside table, Mik pulled his shirt off and then his pants but left his briefs on. Sam couldn’t help but let his eyes roam up Mik’s expanse of tight flesh over toned muscles. He was a sight that Sam couldn’t deny the pleasure of looking at. He wasn’t as big as before but Sam liked his slightly slender-built. He was less intimidating and far more pleasing to the eyes.

Without comment, Mik pulled the blanket over Sam before crawling in next to him. His nostrils flared as he took in Sam’s scent, brushing his nose gently across his shoulder and up his neck. His throat rumbled his appraisal before he pressed his lips to the crook of Sam’s neck. Parting his lips, he teased the tender flesh with descended canines.

Sam’s sudden intake of breath was released with a moan of desire. He not only needed this but he wanted it. The idea of making love now for the desire for it sounded better than waiting until the pain of his heat was too great they had no choice in the matter than to go ahead and do it out of necessity. Not that he’d regret it then but he did like the idea of doing it now when he was more in control of himself and it came from the heart rather than from heat.

“I want you,” he voiced again. “I want to make love to you while I still have some kind of control. When I can enjoy it for what it is—wanting you rather than needing you in agony.”

“I know,” Mik’s voice rumbled back. “I still would rather wait until you are stronger but I know I’m out of options now.”

Kissing his neck again, Mik teased the tender skin as he reached up to fondle Sam’s breasts. The sensation still surprised him and he gasped before moaning out his pleasure. Reaching up, he touched Mik’s face, urging him to shift his attention from his neck to his lips. Mik responded and kissed along his neck and to his jaw before finding Sam’s lips.

Sweet heat flooded over him as Mik feasted on his lips. Sam couldn’t get enough and moaned his need, his hunger for more.

“I want to touch you,” Sam rasped between breaths. His hands caressed Mik’s hard chest and fumbled around the waistband of his briefs.

Mik growled his pleasure before drawing away to slide off the tight material. His length sprang up, hard and ready for Sam to grasp it in his hand. His size was massive compared to Sam’s and he whimpered at the thought of whether he’d be able to accommodate him.

Mik shushed his anxiety away, kissing his forehead and then his lips. “I’ll be as gentle as I can. I promise.”

“I trust you.” Sam nodded, grasping his lips again with his own while feeling the length of him with his palm, stroking him up and down.

Mik growled his pleasure, his lips vibrating against Sam’s. Sam could feel the blood engorging his veins, growing bigger and stronger under his fingertips. The thought of him, a male, turning Mik on despite not being the sex Mik liked, was empowering. He wanted to give Mik more pleasure than all the females he had before. He wanted to make him cum. To satisfy him beyond anything he ever experienced before.

His grip tightened as Mik’s breathing grew heavier.

“I need... to get you ready...” Mik rasped between breathing and kissing Sam.

Sam whimpered. His need increasing but at the same time, he didn’t want to let go of Mik and stop kissing him.

“I want to make you cum,” Sam whispered, stroking Mik more vigorously until Mik clamped his hand around Sam’s with a groan.

“Another time. I need all of my juices to put out your fire.” Mik clasped Sam’s lips with his own. “It’s the only way,” he continued between kisses, “to help you get through this.”

A whimper escaped Sam as he relinquished control and let Mik dominate.