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Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

Mikhail Kyryap knew the sexy little blond was his forever mate the
moment he stepped inside the roadside bar with his friends.

Convincing the human of that might prove to be harder than
leading an entire pride of tiger shifters. Jace is the most stubborn

man Mikhail has ever dealt with.

Jace Marrok was one step away from being labeled loose by his

friends when he followed a handsome stranger into the utility
closet for a little fun. He just can’t seem to resist Mikhail, not even

when the man shifts in front of him and Jace learns that he has
been mated against his will.

Deciding whether to believe the sexy alpha when he says it was

instinctual might be harder than staying alive when others in
Mikhail’s pride take exception to him mating a human. When they

are attacked, Jace has to choose between staying with a man he is
quickly falling for or getting his friends and running for his life.

Genre: Alternative (M/M or F/F), Contemporary, Paranormal,
Shape-shifter
Length: 28,344 words

FOREVER MATE:

MIKHAIL & JACE

Stormy Glenn

EVERLASTING CLASSIC

MANLOVE

Siren Publishing, Inc.

www.SirenPublishing.com

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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Everlasting Classic ManLove

FOREVER MATE: MIKHAIL & JACE
Copyright © 2014 by Stormy Glenn
E-book ISBN: 978-1-63258-056-6

First E-book Publication: July 2014

Cover design by Ash Arceneaux
All art and logo copyright © 2014 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be
reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including
electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without
express written permission.

All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance
to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com

Letter to Readers

Dear Readers,

If you have purchased this copy of Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace by
Stormy Glenn from BookStrand.com or its official distributors, thank
you. Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book.

Regarding E-book Piracy

This book is copyrighted intellectual property. No other individual or
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This is Stormy Glenn’s livelihood. It’s fair and simple. Please respect
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FOREVER MATE:

MIKHAIL & JACE

STORMY GLENN

Chapter One

“It’s just a bar, Liam. They can’t keep us out.”
“You think not?” Liam laughed nervously. “We’re in redneck

hell, Jace. Not only can they keep us out, they can tar and feather us.”

Jace Marrok rolled his eyes when Liam glanced behind him at

their friend, Bay. “That is what they do in these backwater towns,
isn’t it? Tar and feather people?”

Bay snorted. “Normal people, maybe. Queers like us?” Bay shook

his head. “They string us up, and like, throw lawn darts at us or
something.”

“Oh please,” Jace replied. “This is a public place. We have as

much right to be here as anyone else.”

“Honey, I hate to break this to you but we’re not anyone else.”

Bay chuckled. “We’re loud, flaming, flamboyant queens. Hell, the
eyeliner on Rue’s face alone could get our asses kicked.”

Jace frowned.
Rue blushed.
“Jace, honey, if someone looked up gay in the dictionary,” Bay

said as he gestured to all of them, “they’d find a picture of us.”

“We’re not that bad,” Jace insisted.

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“Jace, what color is my shirt?” Bay asked as he plucked at the

silky material with his fingers.

“Azure blue, why?”
“And Liam’s?” Bay continued.
“Chartreuse.”
“Uh-huh,” Bay said, “and what type of piercing does Rue have?”
Jace glanced back at Rue, grinning. “Guiche.”
“Honey, face it, we’re gay!”
Jace laughed at the blush creeping up Rue’s face again. Bay was

probably right. Rue did wear a lot of eyeliner. Still, they had as much
right as anyone else to be in this bar, even if they were clearly gay.
And, unless someone was blind and deaf, they were all clearly gay.

They talked gay, they walked gay, and they looked gay. Hell, they

probably even smelled gay. They were the stereotypical gay men.
Loud, bright colors, makeup and piercings, even the effeminate body
movements, they had it all, in spades. Christ, two of the four of them
had little sequined purses under their arms.

“Okay, so we’re gay. So what? That doesn’t mean we don’t have

as much right to be here as anyone else,” Jace said as grabbed the
door handle to the bar. “Besides, maybe we can teach those hicks a
things or two about fashion and makeup.”

Jace was laughing as he opened the bar door and took a step

inside. He came to a screeching halt at the scene before him. Bay,
Liam, and Rue plowed into him from behind. Jace’s laughter slowly
died away.

In this instance, he might be wrong about where they could be.
He was looking at a sea of rough, muscle-bound, jean-clad,

cowboy-boot-wearing, beer-drinking rednecks. They were
everywhere, as far as the eye could see. And more than one of them
were drool worthy.

Most, if not all of them, had beers in their hands. A few men sat

around booths on the back wall of the room. Several were playing
pool. There were even a few men that seemed to be just hanging out

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

at the bar. Loud country music could be heard…well, almost
everywhere.

It was really loud.
The place basically looked like every backwoods bar that Jace had

ever envisioned—pool tables, beer and peanuts, country music, and
rednecks. And Jace couldn’t see a gay man in the bunch.

Jace grinned mischievously. This could be fun. He didn’t much

care that the four of them stood out like warts on a thumb. Jace wasn’t
ashamed of the fact that he was gay or that he loved men. He didn’t
care if his demeanor made some people uncomfortable. He was who
he was and he wasn’t going to change that for anyone, not even a
room full of rednecks.

“Come on in, boys.” Jace giggled “There’s eye candy as far as the

mascara-wearing eye can see.”

Jace strolled across the room to the bar putting a little extra sway

in his hips, not that he really needed any. He could feel the stares of
several sets of eyes following his progress across the room, hear the
soft nervous chuckle from Bay behind him. A wide smile plastered on
his face, Jace just kept going.

“Can I get four beers, please?” Jace asked when he reached the

bar. The bartender gave Jace a long look as if he were measuring him.
Jace figured he must have come to some sort of conclusion when the
bartender nodded and pulled out four bottled beers, setting them on
the wooden bar top.

“That’ll be eight dollars.”
Jace pulled the money out of his pocket and laid it on the bar

before reaching for the beer bottles. He handed one to each of his
friends, taking the last one for himself. His eyebrow lifted and he cast
a look at Bay when he saw the beer cap. Bay just shrugged. It wasn’t
a screw top, but it wasn’t a cork either. Somehow, though, Jace
doubted that they had wine in this bar.

Stormy Glenn

Trying to seem like he knew what he was doing, Jace grabbed the

bottle opener off the bar and popped the top on his beer. He handed
the small metal gadget over to Bay and took a long drink of his beer.

Jace coughed a bit, the beer burning a little as it went down. It was

cold, he’d give the bartender that. Tasted like crap, but it was cold.
God, he hated beer. Maybe he should have asked for water.

Jace let his eyes wander around the bar. He wasn’t sure if he was

looking for potential threats or for potential invitations. There were
several men in his immediate vicinity that Jace wouldn’t mind getting
to know better, but the curious and guarded looks on their faces told
him that they were not potential invitations.

They were looking at Jace and his friends like they had just

stepped out of a circus. Jace had seen it before. He knew that they
were freaky-looking to people that weren’t used to them. He just
didn’t much care, beyond not getting his ass kicked.

So what if he liked to wear matching socks with his patent leather

shoes? So what if he knew how to make Duck à l’Orange? So what if
he liked sucking cock? That didn’t mean he wasn’t human. Just
because he was in touch with his inner fem wasn’t a reason to beat
him up or call him hateful names.

“Let’s go find a place to sit,” Jace said as he spotted an empty

booth across the room. He headed that way, knowing that Bay, Liam,
and Rue would be fast on his heels. If nothing else, they stuck
together through thick and thin. They were best friends, the four of
them.

Having met in high school, they had quickly formed a friendship

that had lasted all through their formative years in high school and on
through college, where they had roomed together, to today, where all
four of them owned and operated a computer security firm.

“Jace?” Liam whispered. “Maybe we should go before we get our

asses handed to us.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Jace replied, waving his hand in a

dismissive gesture. “We’re not hurting anyone. If they can’t deal with

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

us then they are obviously not the big bad rednecks I thought they
were.” Jace chuckled. “Don’t tell me you think that these guys are
afraid of us?”

“No,” Liam said. Jace could hear the nervousness in Liam’s voice.

“I don’t think they’re afraid of us at all. I can’t say the same about me,
though. I’m shaking in boots here, Jace.”

“Yes, but you’re shaking in Prada boots, honey. That has to mean

something.” Jace waited for Liam to sit down and then slid into the
booth beside him. Bay and Rue sat down across from them. They
looked as nervous as hell. “Ah, hell, just ignore them and let’s have a
good time.”

Bay snorted. “You said that the last time we ended up in one of

these backwater bars. Remember that? We barely got out of there
with our virtues intact.”

Jace burst out laughing. “What virtue?” He lifted his beer and

took another long drink, his eyes moving about the room as he did. A
sudden flash of dark emerald green caught Jace’s eye as he looked
past the pool table.

Glancing around, he found a set of green eyes staring right back at

him. Jace was mesmerized in an instant, both by the deep-green color
and the glint of interest shining in them. Jace swallowed hard past the
lump in his throat.

Hot damn!
So, they did build drool-worthy rednecks in the backwoods.
The man leaned low over the pool table, his gaze never wavering

from Jace’s. The smoldering flame in those eyes was enough to make
Jace reach under the table and adjust the suddenly throbbing cock in
his pants.

His eyes widened when the man smirked, winked at him, then

looked down to take his shot, breaking their eye contact. Jace felt
almost abandoned. He wanted to experience that intense connection
again. He just had to figure out how to accomplish it.

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

Chapter Two

“I claim the blond,” Mikhail said casually as he straightened up

and watched his ball shoot across the pool table before sinking right
where he wanted it to go.

“Redhead,” Yuri stated.
“Brunette,” Zus added.
“Guess that about solves it then,” Stefan said. “I claim the little

black-haired one.”

“Well, that was relatively simple.” Mikhail chuckled. He glanced

back at the table where the four men sat, grinning when he saw the
blond watching him intently. This could be a lot of fun and certainly
more entertaining than a game of pool.

“Any ideas?” Yuri asked.
“We could throw them over our shoulders and just carry them

out.” Zus shrugged. “It’s not like anyone is going to try to stop us.”

“That’s probably not a wise idea, Zus.” Mikhail was greatly

amused by the image that idea gave him. He’d love to go all caveman
on the little ash-blond, throw him over his shoulder and carry him
away to be ravished. “Although, we can always save that for a last
resort.”

“Buy them a drink?” Yuri asked.
Mikhail shook his head, dismissing that idea. “Too predictable.”
“Ask them to dance?” Yuri asked.
“Too dangerous.” Mikhail gestured to the other patrons in the bar.

“The locals would rebel.”

“Well hell, Mikhail, what do you want us to do?” Zus griped.

“Send up smoke signals?”

Stormy Glenn

“Just let me think for a moment,” Mikhail responded. He folded

his hands over the top of the pool cue, resting his chin on his
knuckles. To any that looked at him, Mikhail seemed to be watching
the pool game. Only his brothers knew his entire attention was on the
blond across the room.

Mikhail suddenly stood up straighter and handed his pool cue to

Stefan. “I’m going to the men’s room,” he said simply. “Don’t make a
move until I get back unless it’s life or death or the they start to
leave.”

Once his brothers nodded, Mikhail walked across the room to the

small hallway that led to the men’s room, winking at the blond as he
passed him. He stopped just as he got around the corner and waited.

Not ten seconds after he walked into the hallway, the little blond

came sprinting around the corner. Mikhail grabbed him. He covered
the man’s mouth with his hand and pulled him into the small utility
closet off to one side of the men’s room.

Mikhail quickly closed the door behind him and leaned back

against it to keep any outsiders, well, out. He removed his hand from
the blond’s mouth, noting the trace of fear he could see in the man’s
deep baby-blue eyes.

“Are you going to beat me up? Because if you are I’d like a little

warning first,” the man said as he plucked at the fabric of his soft
white shirt. “This is silk, and I’d really prefer not to get blood stains
on it. They’re a real bitch to get out.”

Seriously? Mikhail raised his eyebrow as he crossed his arms over

his chest. “If I’m going to hit you do you really think I’d be polite
enough to give you notice first?”

The man shrugged. He looked decidedly nervous. “It’s worth a

shot.” Mikhail could almost feel the eyes assessing him for potential
danger. “So, are you?”

“Am I what?”
Mikhail could barely control his laughter when the man rolled his

eyes. He could almost see the words in the man’s head telling him to

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

pay attention to the conversation. “Are you going to beat me up?” he
asked.

“No.”
“So, what do you want?”
“The same thing you wanted when you followed me in here,

beautiful.”

“Oh,” the man replied, and then a slow, sexy grin crossed his

mouth, showing off his perfect white teeth. “Oohhh.”

Mikhail knew the man got it. Or at least, he was going to the

minute Mikhail got him out of his clothes. He grabbed the man by his
arms and pulled him flush against his body. He cupped the side of the
blond’s face, his other hand anchoring the man to him by his slim hip.

“Do you have a name, little one, or should I just continue to call

you ‘beautiful’?”

The soft flush that filled the man’s face was fascinating but not

half as much as the way he suddenly licked his full lips. “Jace
Marrok,” he mumbled. “But I like ‘beautiful,’ too.”

“I am Mikhail Sebastian Ivananova Andrei Kугуар,” Mikhail

replied.

“That’s a mouthful.”
Mikhail smirked as he rubbed his thumb across the man’s plush

lips. “It could be for most people, but somehow I think you can
handle it.”

Jace’s brow peaked, sending a shot of lust straight to Mikhail’s

cock. He growled and wrapped his fingers around the back of Jace’s
neck to hold the man’s head still as he lowered his lips to his.

Jace’s lips were just as warm and lush as they had looked across

the room. And the man responded to Mikhail’s possessive kiss like a
dream. His entire body melted against Mikhail’s even as his mouth
opened up and accepted Mikhail’s dominance.

Mikhail trailed his hand from Jace’s neck down his back until

both of his hands could grab the tight ass he had seen walk across the

Stormy Glenn

bar when Jace first came in. He squeezed each rounded globe in his
hands before lifting Jace up higher against his body.

Jace wrapped his legs around Mikhail’s waist. Their hard cocks

mashed together. The small whimper that fell from Jace’s mouth
inflamed Mikhail. He wanted to hear that sound again and again and
discover what other sounds Jace could make.

Mikhail broke away from Jace’s lips so that they could both

breathe. Instead, they traveled along Jace’s jawline. Mikhail groaned
when Jace arched his head back, baring his neck to Mikhail’s questing
lips.

He turned around and pressed Jace’s slim body against the door.

Every move the man made was fanning the flames of desires burning
inside of Mikhail. He had desired a lot of men in his lifetime, but
none had made him feel nearly mindless with lust.

“Shirt off,” Mikhail ordered. He knew his voice sounded husky

and rough by the way that Jace’s eyes widened before he reached for
the buttons of his shirt. Mikhail held his breath as he waited for the
glorious chest he just knew was waiting under the silky fabric.

He wasn’t disappointed. Mikhail’s tongue nearly fell out of his

mouth as Jace dropped his shirt on the floor. Jace was a slim man, but
what muscles he did have were nicely defined. He sported sexy pecs
with pale-brown nipples and a rippled abdomen. A small sun tattoo
encircled his belly button, just asking to be licked, which is exactly
what Mikhail did.

Lifting Jace up in his arms, he leaned in and swirled his tongue

around the small, colored tattoo. Jace squirmed in his arms and his
hands clenched in Mikhail’s hair. Mikhail heard the soft moan that
came from Jace. He felt the way Jace’s stomach muscles contracted.

“Fuck, man, you…you…” Jace groaned.
Mikhail swatted Jace on the butt and glared up at him. “Such a

pretty little mouth shouldn’t have such ugly things coming out of it. I
have much better things for you to do with those lips.”

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

Jace looked confused as if he were in a fog and didn’t quite know

what was going on. Mikhail decided to let Jace’s swearing pass for
now. It was always something he could fix later. Right now, he
wanted nothing more than to sink his cock into the fine little ass in his
hands.

“Do you like these pants, beautiful?”
“Uh, yeah?”
Mikhail lowered Jace’s feet to the floor but kept close contact

between them. “Then I suggest that you get rid of them before I do. I
doubt I’ll be nice about it.”

Jace’s eyes widened but his hands quickly went to the buttons of

his tight leather pants. Within seconds, Jace’s shoes and pants lay in a
pile on the floor. Mikhail groaned. When he called Jace, beautiful he
had no idea how right he was.

The man was glorious.
He quickly unbuttoned his faded jeans and parted the material

until his cock bounced up, slapping against his abdomen. He raised an
eyebrow at Jace’s quiet gasp, liking the way the man stared at him
with hunger in his eyes. Mikhail knew he was well endowed. He just
hoped Jace’s smaller body could take him.

Mikhail wrapped his hands under the man’s hips and lifted him

back up, pressing the man back against the wall. The pressure
building in his body felt like it would explode any moment. He
wanted to explode inside of the little man.

“I’m going to take you now, beautiful,” Mikhail said as he used

his hands to part man’s cheeks, sliding his aching cock between them
until it caught on the small quivering cleft there. “Are you ready for
me?”

The hitch in Jace’s breathing made Mikhail growl with

satisfaction. He wasn’t massive, but he wasn’t small either. He had no
doubt that he could give the little man in his arms a good ride.

Stormy Glenn

Mikhail rubbed the head of his cock over Jace’s entrance until the

natural lubrication leaking from his cock eased his way and he slowly
began to slide in. The shocked gasp from Jace made Mikhail grin.

“Something wrong, pretty?”
“Lu–lube,” Jace whispered, “we need lube…a–a–and a condom.”
“No need, beautiful,” Mikhail replied as he pushed in a few more

inches. “I can’t give you anything, and we have plenty of lube.” He
grinned. His pre cum acted as a lubricant. Something in it would
loosen his lover up and ease the way for him.

“Can’t you feel it?”
Jace’s eyes dominated his delicate face as he nodded. “Ho–how?”
Mikhail slid in the last little bit until he was fully seated inside of

Jace. He wanted to explain to the man about the natural lubrication his
body produced that eased the way for mating, but the pleasure of
being inside the man overwhelmed him.

He leaned forward and licked the side of Jace’s neck in the exact

spot he’d sink his teeth into the moment he came. Jace tasted
wonderful, sweet and spicy. It was a taste he hoped to have explode
across his tongue on a daily basis.

At the moment though, there was a whole hell of a lot of naked

flesh waiting for him to taste. Mikhail nibbled and licked at every
inch of exposed skin he could reach. He could feel Jace’s heart race
under his tongue and knew the man’s passion rivaled his own. That
was a good thing in Mikhail’s estimation.

Mikhail moved, pumping his hips as he thrust into Jace then

slowly pulled out, drawing a long wail of pleasure out of Jace. It
merely spurred him on, causing him to drive faster into the tight grasp
of the man destined to be his for the rest of his days.

Each sound that escaped Jace’s mouth increased Mikhail’s level

or arousal until he couldn’t control himself anymore. A sense of
urgency drove him. The anticipation of the coming bond with Jace
consumed him.

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

Flames of uncontrolled lust licked at Mikhail, burned him. Jace

cried louder. Mikhail thrust harder. His balls drew up tight against his
body heralding his imminent climax. Mikhail cast one last look into
Jace’s deep-blue eyes.

“Mine,” he growled. “Say it.”
“Yes, yes, yours,” Jace wailed as he filled the space between them

with his release.

Jace’s inner muscles clamped down on Mikhail’s cock as he

came, dragging Mikhail over the edge with him. Mikhail had just
enough time to sink his teeth into the soft skin between Jace’s neck
and shoulder before he erupted, filling his mate with his seed and
binding them together forever.

Stormy Glenn

Chapter Three

Jace’s body sagged as Mikhail gently lowered his feet to the floor.

He wasn’t sure he had enough strength left to stand. Mikhail took care
of that by holding him up, a strong arm wrapped around Jace’s waist.

Jace leaned his head back against the door and gazed up at the

man that had just fucked him within an inch of his life. Jace hadn’t
had that many sexual partners in his life, but no one had ever made
him feel the level of ecstasy that Mikhail had.

The man was simply amazing.
“How are you feeling, baby?”
Jace groaned happily and leaned into the hand cupped around his

cheek, his eyes slipping closed. “I feel great.”

Mikhail chuckled. “Good.”
Jace opened his eyes a moment later when he felt Mikhail lips

press against his. Good gods, this man was gorgeous. Jace couldn’t
for the life of him figure out why a man that looked like Mikhail
would be interested in someone like him.

Mikhail looked like everything every man wanted to be and every

woman dreamed of having. From the top of his tousled brown hair to
the bottoms of his cowboy boots and every tight muscle in between,
Mikhail screamed raw, masculine male.

He was the dominant male species right down to his toenails. The

sexual vibes the man gave off could make the pope drool. Jace
certainly had a hard time keeping himself from drooling every time he
looked at the man.

Jace suddenly felt self-conscious standing there completely naked.

Mikhail stood over him, his pants unbuttoned and his wet cock

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

hanging out. Looking down at the drops of cum dripping of the
gorgeous head of Mikhail’s cock, a sudden horrifying thought struck
Jace’s.

He lifted his head and stared at Mikhail in horror. “We—we

didn’t use a condom.”

“No need to, baby,” Mikhail replied as he wiped up, placed his

cock back into his pants, and buttoned them up.

Jace sputtered. “Wha–what do you mean we don’t need to?

Everyone should always use a condom when having sex unless
they’re in a monogamous relationship, and we’re not. We just fucking
met.”

Jace yelped when Mikhail grabbed him and slammed him back

against the door, cupping his jaw. It hadn’t hurt, just surprised him.
Jace’s heart pounded in his chest as he looked up at Mikhail, the
possessive glint in the man’s dark-green eyes making him tremble.

“We are in a monogamous relationship, Jace, from this moment

on,” Mikhail snarled in a low and menacing tone that made Jace
shiver. “You will never touch another man. You belong to me now.”

Jace’s hand shook as he patted Mikhail’s shoulder, hoping to calm

the big man. Truthfully, Jace was about ready to pee his pants.
Mikhail scared the crap out of him. Jace vowed to run the first chance
he got.

There was no way he would stick around with some guy that

thought he was a piece of property to be owned. Been there, done
that, didn’t like it much. Jace knew he was cute, but he wasn’t a doll
to be kept on a shelf, taken down to be played with when his latest
fling decided to have some fun.

“Okay, whatever you say.”
Jace’s breath slowly returned to normal as Mikhail lowered him

back to the ground and handed him his clothes. He quickly pulled
them on, grateful to be covered once again. He didn’t want to do
anything to set Mikhail off again.

Stormy Glenn

True, the sex had been out of this world, but it hadn’t been so

good that he would be willing to give up his freedom for a controlling
boyfriend. Jace had no problem with monogamy. He preferred it in
fact. He just didn’t like slavery that much, which is exactly where he
knew things with Mikhail were headed.

He’d seen it before.
It started out as a need to be monogamous. Then the questions

started. Where was he going? Who was he seeing? Those were
followed by the requests to drop this friend or that, not go to this place
or that place. And then came the demands. What came after the
demands wasn’t even worth thinking about.

It was too painful.
For now, Jace knew he had to play along until he could get the

other guys together and slip away. He wasn’t about to leave without
his friends. Jace had seen the other men hanging with Mikhail. His
friends could very well be in as much trouble as Jace.

“So,” Jace said as he tucked his shirt into his slacks, “what now?”
“Now I take you back out to the other room and introduce you to

my brothers.”

“Okay.”
Jace felt no surprise when Mikhail grabbed his hand and pulled

him out of the utility closet. He knew the big man wouldn’t want to
let go of him. He’d just have to wait until Mikhail’s guard was down
before he could leave.

As they walked back into the main room of the bar, Jace’s heart

plummeted. He couldn’t see a single one of his friends. Their booth
was empty. “Uh, do you know where my friends went?”

“The men you were sitting with?” Mikhail asked, glancing down

at him.

Jace nodded.
“How do you know them?”
Jace shrugged. He’d expected the question. It was the beginning.

“We’ve known each other since high school,” he said as he repeated

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

the words he had on numerous occasions. “Once we graduated from
college, we opened a business together.”

“You’re not in a relationship with any of them?”
Jace smirked. He could practically choreograph this conversation.

“Not like you mean. I don’t fuck other men when I’m in a
relationship.”

Jace was suddenly jerked into Mikhail’s arms. He felt a hand cup

the side of his face. Brilliant green eyes blinked down at him.

“Good to know,” Mikhail said softly. “I’d hate to have to tell you

that you couldn’t be friends with them anymore.”

“Oh, that tears it,” Jace said. He pulled away from Mikhail,

absently noting the man’s stunned expression as he took enough steps
back to be out of his reach. “I’m sure you’re a great guy. You
certainly fuck like a dream, but that in no way that gives you the right
to tell who I can be friends with.”

Mikhail growled, baring his teeth.
Jace rolled his eyes. “There’s nothing you can do to me that hasn’t

been done already, big boy. I’ve been beat up by the best of them.
And I absolutely refuse to have anything to do with anyone that thinks
they can own me.”

Jace took a few steps further away from Mikhail. He could see the

rage brimming in the man’s eyes, but he just couldn’t seem to make
his mouth stop moving. A personality defect he had been fighting
most of his life.

“You, gorgeous, can go fuck yourself because you certainly won’t

be fucking me again,” Jace snapped. “No man is worth this shit.”

Jace was quite proud of the exit he made as he spat out the last of

his words, twirled around, and walked away, heading quickly toward
the exit. He was already reaching for his cell phone to call the others
by the time he reached the door.

A large white blur jumped in front of Jace before he could grab

the door handle. He fell back, landing hard on his ass. He started to sit

Stormy Glenn

up, rubbing his sore butt, when the white blur suddenly took shape
and Jace found himself nose to nose with a huge white tiger.

Or was it a lion?
A jaguar?
Jace wasn’t sure and he didn’t much care. He just knew it was

huge and it looked hungry.

“Nice kitty,” Jace whispered, afraid to move, to even breathe.
The nice big kitty licked Jace’s nose.
“Oh hell, I’m going to die,” Jace squeaked.
The nice big kitty licked his nose again.
Jace tried scooting away from the cat, but it simply crawled across

the floor after him. Jace slowly reached up and patted the cat’s head.
“Nice kitty,” he said again. He scooted back a little more. “Stay,
kitty.”

The cat tilted his head to one side as if he could actually

understand Jace’s words. Jace could feel the adrenaline running
through his body brought on by the fear he felt. His palms sweated.
His heart thundered in his chest. The lump of fear in his throat
threatened to block his airway.

The cat grinned. Jace swore he did, and its mouth was full of

really big, sharp-looking teeth. Any sound Jace would have made died
in his throat as the huge cat crawled up close to Jace and licked his
nose again, then his cheek and his throat.

Jace felt like the large feline was tasting his flesh for flavor. He

was sure to be the cat’s next big meal. He squeezed his eyes shut and
leaned his head back. “Please don’t eat me,” Jace whispered. He
waited for the bite, knowing he would feel unimaginable pain shoot
through his body, but it never came.

Jace cracked one eye open then the other. His mouth dropped

open then snapped shut. He couldn’t voice the thoughts racing
through his head. He’d sound like a moron. He had to be
hallucinating. Maybe someone had slipped him something. It seemed
to be the only explanation.

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

A large white cat no longer sat before him. Mikhail did, and he

was gazing back at Jace with something that Jace normally would
have thought of as sadness. But why Mikhail had anything to be sad
about, Jace didn’t know.

Thinking of the cat again, Jace looked quickly around the bar. He

noticed that the bar was empty except for the bartender, but he saw no
cat in sight. He glanced back at Mikhail, hoping he might have some
answers.

“What just happened?” Jace asked. He couldn’t keep his voice

from trembling. “Where did the cat go?”

The wind suddenly whipped wildly around Mikhail. A bright

shining light blinded Jace. He raised his arm in front of his eyes to
protect them. When the light lessened, Jace lowered his arm, only to
find the large cat sitting where Mikhail sat moments before.

“Oh hell, I am hallucinating.”
The cat got up and stalked forward. Jace leaned back until he lay

with his back on the floor, the large cat standing over the top of him.
The cat leaned down and licked Jace’s face again.

The light flashed again. Jace blinked away the sudden spots in

front of his eyes. When his vision cleared, Mikhail leaned over the top
of him right where the cat had been. Jace shook his head. The
thoughts starting to roll through his head just didn’t make sense.

But Mikhail nodded as if he knew what Jace thought.
“Not possible.”
“Not only possible, baby,” Mikhail replied, “but definite.”
“You’re a shifter.” Jace had heard of them. Everyone had. Shifters

came out to the world over fifty years ago. Jace had just never seen
one in person, just on television.

But he was fascinated nonetheless.
Mikhail nodded. “I am.”
“How?” That part always intrigued Jace. He wanted to know how

a shifter was a shifter.

“Are you willing stick around to find out?”

Stormy Glenn

“Are you willing to stop telling me what to do?” Jace countered.
Mikhail chuckled. Jace felt the man’s hand stroke down the side

of his face. It was a gentle touch, not like Jace would have expected
from a man he argued with only moments before.

“I seriously doubt that I’ll ever stop telling you what to do,”

Mikhail replied. “It’s part of my nature. However, I’m not adverse to
you arguing about it with me.” Mikhail’s eyes sparkled with barely
restrained lust. “I hear makeup sex can be quite exhilarating.”

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

Chapter Four

Mikhail pushed himself to his feet and held out his hand to his

forever mate. He had no idea if Jace would take it, but he could
always hope. So far, he hadn’t been doing a good job at anything else.

Mikhail knew as the words came out of his mouth that he was

behaving like an asshole. He just couldn’t seem to stop himself once
he started. Jace meant too much to him to give the man up after just a
few hours.

He knew if he wanted Jace to stick around he’d have to come

clean and tell Jace everything. Hopefully then the man would
understand that being with anyone else just wasn’t an option.

Mikhail felt eternally grateful when Jace reached up and grabbed

his hand. Mikhail pulled, drawing the man to his feet. He grimaced
when Jace quickly dropped his hand and stepped away from him.

He’d have to get used to that, he supposed, at least until Jace

understood the situation they were both in. A forever mate was, well,
forever. Mikhail had claimed Jace, bonded with him. He’d never want
another person as long as he lived.

A daunting thought, being tied to one man for the rest of his life.

And his kind lived a very long time. Mikhail needed to make the best
of things, to get Jace to understand the situation they were in. The
thought of Jace leaving his side made Mikhail’s stomach clench.

“Where do your clothes go when you shift?”
Mikhail chuckled. “That’s what you want to know?”
Jace shrugged. “They get shredded in the movies. Yours seem just

fine.”

Stormy Glenn

“I’m not sure where our clothes go, but they are gone when we

shift and back when we become human again. It just kind of
happens,” Mikhail said, gesturing toward a vacant table in the corner.
“Please, join me for a drink and I’ll explain things to you.”

Jace seemed to watch the table for a moment, then he frowned. “Is

there anything else to drink besides beer? That stuff tastes like toilet
water.”

Mikhail chuckled. “For you, of course.” He turned his head and

held up two fingers to the bartender. “One beer, one soda, Sam,” he
said to the bartender before turning back to Jace. “Shall we?”

Jace looked hesitant but followed Mikhail over to the small table

and sat down. Mikhail sat down across from him and waited for the
bartender to bring their drinks before speaking. He needed a little
liquid courage.

As he waited, Mikhail stared at his forever mate. He wasn’t sure

he would have picked Jace out of a crowd to play around with if he
hadn’t known the man belonged to him. Now that he looked at him,
though, Mikhail realized that Jace might possibly be the sexiest man
alive.

Mikhail didn’t know if his sudden fascination was due to their

bond or something more. He just knew he had been lucky enough to
get the most beautiful man in the world as his mate. That was enough
for him.

A beer and a soda were set down on the table. Mikhail looked up

when Sam, the bartender, didn’t immediately move away. The man
leaned toward Jace, sniffing the air round him. Mikhail growled,
baring his teeth.

Sam instantly jumped back and hurried over to stand behind the

bar, a red flush filling his face. Mikhail turned back to see Jace staring
across the table at him, an exasperated glare in his baby-blue eyes.

Mikhail shrugged. “Better get used to it because I can’t control it.

No one should be sniffing you except me.”

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

“You can’t growl at someone because they sniff me.” Jace

shuddered. “No matter how weird that is.”

“You should be happy. My first instinct was to rip his throat out.”
Jace’s mouth dropped open.
“I didn’t do it, did I?” Mikhail asked. “The only reason he’s still

breathing is because I didn’t want to upset you and he knows it. He
had no business sniffing you.”

“Dude, you seriously need to think about taking some downers or

something.” Jace waved his hand in the air in a gesture Mikhail was
quickly coming to associate with Jace’s personality. He doubted the
man could talk if he sat on his hands. “Definitely stay away from
caffeine. That would be just too intense.”

Mikhail chuckled then took a sip of his beer. He set it back on the

table, staring down at the smoky brown glass. His fingers picked
nervously at the label as he tried to think of a way to tell Jace
everything he needed to say.

“I’m a cat, a white Siberian tiger to be exact.”
“Yeah, the fur was kind of a dead giveaway.”
“I was born this way. I’ve been able to shift since I hit puberty.”
Jace nodded. “So, you can shift into a cat. So what?”
Mikhail’s eyebrows shot up to his forehead.
“Okay, yeah, it’s weird”—Jace’s eyes widened considerably—

“really weird, but that still doesn’t give you the right to tell me what
to do. I’m an adult, a full-grown man, and the last time I looked,
slavery had been outlawed.”

Mikhail sighed. “It’s not about slavery, Jace.”
“Then what is it about?” Jace asked. “I have a few ex-boyfriends

that wanted me under their thumb. They were very controlling,
expecting me to follow their every command. When I didn’t do as
they wanted, they beat the shit out of me.” Jace waved his hand once
again. “Hence them being ex-boyfriends.”

Stormy Glenn

Jace paused, taking a drink of his soda before looking back up at

Mikhail. “You really do seem like a nice guy, but I’m just not willing
to go through that again, not for anyone or anything.”

“I understand, believe me,” Mikhail said. “And I’m sorry for the

way I went off. I opened my mouth and all this shit started coming out
and I just couldn’t seem to close my mouth. I didn’t mean to say what
I did.”

“Even if you didn’t mean to say it, you still meant the idea behind

the words,” Jace said. “The thoughts had to be in your head or they
never would have come out of your mouth.”

Mikhail couldn’t fault Jace’s logic. He had been thinking those

things when he said them. Jace said something about them not being
in a relationship, and uncontrollable rage had filled Mikhail.

“I’ll admit I went overboard,” Mikhail said.
“That’s mighty big of you.” Jace smirked.
Oh, Jace was a hoot. Mikhail had no doubt that the man would

give him a good run for his money in the coming years. He might be
just as stubborn as Mikhail.

“I’d just got done having sex with you and you started going on

about us not being in a relationship like you weren’t even going to
consider the possibility. How did you expect me to respond?”

“You fucked me without a condom,” Jace snapped, slapping his

hands down on the table as he glared at Mikhail.

“I’m a shifter,” Mikhail snapped right back. “I can’t give you

anything.”

“Well, I didn’t know that at the time, now did I?”
Mikhail blinked then he started laughing, shaking his head. He

shook his finger at Jace. “You’re going to drive me crazy. I can see
that now.”

“Maybe not,” Jace replied. “I still haven’t decided if I’m sticking

around.”

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

That sobered Mikhail up fast. The laughter died from his voice.

He dropped his eyes down to watch as he started picking at the label
on his beer bottle again. “I know.”

Jace sighed, bringing Mikhail’s eyes back up to him. “Look,

Mikhail, you need to understand something. I know nothing about
you except that you’re great in the sack, you have a really long name,
and you can shift into the biggest damn cat I’ve ever seen. That’s not
enough to base a relationship on.”

Mikhail folded his hands together and looked up at Jace. “What

do you want to know? Ask me anything.”

“Why me?”
Jace asked so fast that Mikhail knew the question had been

playing on his mind. He smiled. He had the perfect answer for that
question. “Because you’re the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.”

Jace snorted. “Oh, now I know you’re full of shit.”
“No, I’m perfectly serious,” Mikhail said quickly, afraid that Jace

would get up and leave. “For my kind, we have a destined mate. We
call them forever mates because we bond with this person for life. We
spend years looking for this special person. Many of us don’t even
find him or her.” Mikhail took a deep breath. Now came the tricky
part. “I knew the minute you walked into the bar that you were my
forever mate.”

Jace started plucking at his fingernails much like Mikhail had

plucked at the label on his beer. He looked anxious but not quite
ready to run for the hills. Mikhail saw that as progress. “And this
means what exactly?”

“Well, for one,” Mikhail replied. “I can never hurt you like your

ex-boyfriends did. I’d chew off my arm first.”

The thought of anyone laying their hands on Jace made Mikhail

see red. How could anyone want to hurt this wonderful man? Jace
could be a pain in the ass, but that was no reason to hurt him. Mikhail
wished he could get the address of everyone that ever hurt Jace so he
could track them down and pay them a little visit.

Stormy Glenn

“That sounds nauseating.”
“But true,” Mikhail said. “I’m incapable of hurting my forever

mate. And I’d be more than likely kill anyone that does try to hurt
you. I take having a forever mate very seriously and your safety, even
from me, is very important.”

“So, okay, you won’t hurt me.” Mikhail barely suppressed his grin

when Jace waved his hand around again. Mikhail was certain now
that it was a natural gesture for the man. It was cute. “What else? I
want to hear it all.”

“You know that whole monogamous thing?”
Jace frowned but nodded anyway.
“It works both ways.” Mikhail moved his hand, gesturing between

the two of them. “Now that we’ve bonded, I can never be unfaithful to
you. In fact, I won’t even desire another person. It’s part of the
whole—”

“Wait!” Jace snapped as he held up a hand to stop Mikhail. “Back

up a minute. What do you mean now that we’ve bonded? When did
we bond?”

Oops!

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

Chapter Five

The flush creeping up Mikhail’s cheeks didn’t reassure Jace one

damn bit. A shiver of apprehension began to edge its way up Jace’s
back as he remembered Mikhail biting him on the neck when they had
sex. He rubbed his hand over the spot even though he couldn’t feel
anything.

“You bit me,” he snapped.
Mikhail nodded, looking slightly sheepish, but he also looked

thoroughly satisfied. “Yes, I did, and I hope to bite you a lot more
over the next several decades. Besides the fact that it makes our bond
stronger each time I bite you, it sexier than hell seeing my bite mark
on your neck, and it lets everyone else know that you’ve been
claimed.”

“You bit me,” Jace repeated, ignoring Mikhail’s words as if he’d

never spoken, although Jace did hear them. He was just too outraged
right now to deal with how much those words affected him. “You bit
me and bonded with me or whatever it is you call this damn thing, and
you didn’t give me the choice.” Jace’s voice thickened with anger.
“You didn’t even ask.”

“Ah, now, there’s where you’re wrong,” Mikhail said vehemently

as he jabbed his finger into the wooden table top. “I asked you if you
were mine and you said yes. I got your agreement before I claimed
you.”

“Bullshit!” Jace shouted. He watched as Mikhail’s head snapped

back in astonishment. He seriously doubted anyone had ever talked to
the big man the way Jace did. Most people would be too intimidated
to argue with Mikhail. Jace was too pissed to care.

Stormy Glenn

Well, too damn bad. I’ll say what I think, and if Mikhail doesn’t

like, it he could take a long walk off a short pier.

“You told me to say it while we were having sex,” Jace argued.
“Are you saying I forced you?”
Jace heaved a heavy sigh. Frustrated beyond words, he pushed his

hand through his hair. Every time he thought he was getting through
to Mikhail, something else came up. How were they supposed to find
a common ground when Mikhail kept taking all his choices away
from him?

“No, you didn’t force me,” Jace finally replied. He wouldn’t lie

about something like that. “I wanted you to take me. I just didn’t
understand what you were asking, and you didn’t explain it to me. I
thought it was just sex, and you know that.”

“Yeah, I guess I did.”
Ah, common ground.
“I just couldn’t let you get away from me.”
Or not!
“Mikhail, whether you can shift into a cat, a bird, or the man on

the moon doesn’t matter. This ability of yours doesn’t make you any
better than me, and it certainly doesn’t give you the right to make
decisions for me.”

“Please understand,” Mikhail said as he reached across the table

and grasped one of Jace’s hands between his. “It’s not about wanting
to give you a choice or not. It’s instinctual. I wish I could have given
you a choice. I hope you would have chosen me but—”

“I would have.” Jace could at least give the man that.
“Thank you, baby. It means a lot to me that you’re willing to say

that.”

Jace nodded and waved his hand. “Finish what you were saying.”
Mikhail nodded. “I’m a cat and you’re my mate. Claiming you

was purely instinctual. I didn’t go into that utility closet with the plan
to claim you. It just happened.”

“Why did you go into that closet?”

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

Mikhail’s eyebrows shot up. “Are you serious? Don’t you

remember me telling you that you are the hottest damn thing I’ve ever
seen? I went into that closet with the intention of getting my hands on
your sexy little body. The claiming thing just happened.” Mikhail
grimaced. “I’m sorry that you weren’t given a choice, but I’m not
sorry it happened. And honestly, I’d probably do it again if given the
chance.”

“Well, at least you’re being honest.”
Jace could feel his anger clawing its way to the surface again. He

was trying to control his temper, but Mikhail didn’t make it easy. The
man didn’t seem repentant at all. Of course, when he saw the sad,
resigned look on Mikhail’s face, Jace wondered if he could be wrong.

“Jace, I’m sorry. That’s the only thing I can give you. Claiming

you was—”

“That’s all I wanted.”
Mikhail’s deep emerald-green eyes flashed briefly with confusion.

“What?”

“Mikhail, you did something against my will. Granted, according

to you it was instinctual, and I’m willing to give that due
consideration under the circumstances. But if you don’t feel it was
wrong, then we have nothing more to discuss.”

“I told you I was sorry.”
“Which is why we’re still talking.”
Jace dragged his hand down his face when Mikhail just stared at

him. He felt like he and Mikhail were just running around in circles.
He understood what Mikhail tried to tell him, but the man claimed
him without his permission. Jace didn’t know if there was a way to fix
that.

“What do you want me to say, Jace?” Mikhail asked after a

moment.

“I’m not sure there is anything you can say, Mikhail,” Jace replied

sadly. “There are some definite differences in how we think, and I’m
not sure we’re going to be able to get past them.”

Stormy Glenn

“You do remember me telling you this was for life, right?”

Mikhail asked.

Jace glanced up in surprised at the barely suppressed growl in

Mikhail’s voice. He felt even more shocked when he took in
Mikhail’s clenched jaw and fisted hands. He could feel the barely
controlled rage just under the surface.

Jace teetered on his chair, his body tensing as he readied himself

for flight. He didn’t know Mikhail beyond the fact that the man could
shift forms and he fucked like nobody Jace ever met before. He didn’t
know how much of the anger in Mikhail would turn to violence.

“Look, I think we both need to take a step back here,” Jace said.

“Hell, we just met like an hour ago. That is not a lifetime relationship.
It’s barely even a beginning. I don’t know shit about you. I don’t even
know anything about you.”

“You know me,” Mikhail said.
“No, Mikhail, I don’t.”
“You know what you need to know,” Mikhail insisted.
“What?” Jace asked. “That you can shift into a cat? That you’re

great in the sack? That you’re prone to violence? You have three
brothers and you hang out in a bar?” Jace spread his hands out. “What
else do I know, Mikhail?”

Mikhail frowned, his brows drawing together. Jace stared at the

man until Mikhail’s eyes dropped down to stare at his hands. “Would
you consider getting to know me? I promise not to do anything—”

“Yes.”
“—that you don’t want—” Mikhail’s head shot up. “Yes?”
Jace nodded. “Yes, I’d like to get to know you.” He sighed deeply

when Mikhail started to smile. “I’m not stupid, Mikhail. I understand
everything you’ve been trying to tell me about this forever mate thing.
I’d like to find out where this goes, but it needs to be on equal terms.
No lying, no holding things back from me. I need to know
everything.”

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

“Then there’s some things you need to know,” Mikhail said, and

he didn’t look happy about whatever it was he was about to say. “I
won’t be able to control myself if you become intimate with someone
else. I won’t hurt you, but I’m not sure I’d be able to keep myself
from killing them.”

Jace swallowed hard. “Okay, what else?”
“Cats are very tactile creatures. I’m going to want to touch you a

lot, rub my scent on you to keep others away.”

“Others?” Jace glanced quickly around the bar. There were still a

few people in the place, but it was pretty empty. “What others?”

“Anyone, everyone.” Mikhail shook his head slightly. “It won’t

matter who. I will need to cover you in my scent.”

Jace leaned back a little and watched Mikhail intently. “You’re

not going to pee all over me are you?”

Mikhail chuckled. “No, but I might want to come all over your

body. That’s the quickest way to spread my scent over you.”

Jace inhaled, the visual of Mikhail jerking off all over him

clouding his mind and suddenly arousing him, making his cock
achingly hard. He’d like to see that in action, not just envision it.

A low growl from Mikhail made him look at the man in concern.

“What?”

“You’re aroused,” Mikhail spoke harshly through gritted teeth.
Jace’s eyes widened when he heard a scraping sound and looked

down to see Mikhail’s fingernails digging deep scratches into the
tabletop. “Uh, Mikhail?”

“You have to stop!” Mikhail snapped through gritted teeth. “I

can’t—I can’t control myself if you don’t stop. You smell like pure
sex right now. I want you too much, and I’m hanging on to my
control by a thread.”

“Fuck!” Jace swore as the heat in his body ramped up another

notch. “You can’t say things like that, Mikhail.”

Mikhail snarled. “Run!”
Jace blinked. “What?”

Stormy Glenn

“Run, damn it!” Mikhail snarled through a clenched jaw. “You

have five seconds to get somewhere private or I’m going to take you
right here on this damn table and I don’t give a fuck who watches us.”

Jace ran.
It took him a single moment to decide on the utility closet they

shared before. He veered in that direction, the sound of heavy
footsteps pounding behind him. Strangely enough, it excited Jace
instead of frightening him as he thought it would have.

He could feel his heart thundering in his chest, but it came from

anticipation, not fear. Jace barely made it past the doorframe before
strong arms wrapped around him from behind and pushed him into
the wall. Heavy breath swept down his neck as Mikhail’s larger body
pressed against him.

“Don’t talk,” Mikhail growled. “Don’t fucking move a muscle.”
Jace’s hands were placed palm flat against the wall. He heard a

rending tear and cold air brushed across his body where his shirt had
been only moments before. Another rip and Jace felt the same air
brush across his ass, his legs.

He almost laughed when he realized he stood there in nothing but

his shoes and purple socks. He would have, too, if Mikhail hadn’t
chosen that moment to run his tongue across the back of Jace’s neck.
Jace shivered as he felt a tingle shoot down his entire spine.

Large callused hands caressed his back, moving slowly around to

his chest. Nimble fingers zeroed in on Jace’s nipples, tugging on
them, twisting them gently. Jace panted, aroused beyond anything he
could ever remember.

No one ever wanted him like this.
“Mikhail,” he hissed, unable to stop himself. He was close to

begging as it was. He cried out in protest when the hands caressing
his chest suddenly dropped away. Then they grabbed his ass cheeks,
massaging them gently before pulling them apart.

“You disobeyed me, Jace,” Mikhail said harshly. “I told you not

to talk. I tried to keep myself under control. I swear I did, but you—”

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

Jace turned his head to glance back at Mikhail over his shoulder.

He could see the tight leash Mikhail had on himself. It showed in the
clenched jaw and tightly drawn features of his face. Truthfully,
Mikhail looked stunning to Jace. He looked achy, needy.

He looked hot as fuck!
“Take me, Mikhail,” he whispered.
Mikhail’s green eyes flickered to Jace’s briefly. They darkened,

turning from emerald green to an almost black color, the whites
nearly disappearing. Jace felt Mikhail’s deep breath as if it were his
own.

“Fuck me, Mikhail.”
Mikhail bared his teeth and growled. Jace hissed as Mikhail lifted

him up by his hips and thrust into him. He felt a slight burn until
Mikhail pushed in all of the way then only pleasure as Mikhail started
moving.

Jace could feel the breathing on his neck increase with each push

and withdraw of Mikhail’s hips. The hands gripping his hips
tightened. The ecstasy Mikhail sent burning through his body stole
what was left of Jace’s resistance.

Jace tilted his head to one side. He wasn’t prepared for Mikhail’s

reaction to his submissive gesture. The man seemed to suddenly lose
all control. Jace heard a low rumble from Mikhail moments before the
man’s sharp canines sank into the tender flesh between his neck and
shoulder.

Mikhail’s movements became frantic and uncoordinated. He

thrust harder, faster, his cock claiming Jace from the inside while his
bite did the same on the outside. One arm wrapped around Jace’s
abdomen, lifting him up to meet Mikhail’s rapid thrusts. The other
arm reached around Jace, Mikhail’s hand grabbing his cock.

Jace cried out, the pleasure intense and mind numbing. Even

while Mikhail was dominating and forceful, his touch was gentle but
firm. And Jace delighted in every little caress, every loud groan from
Mikhail.

Stormy Glenn

“Mine!” Mikhail snarled as he withdrew his teeth and licked at the

bite mark he left on Jace’s shoulder.

Jace shivered. He felt his balls draw up close to his body as

Mikhail’s hand stroked him faster, the cock pounding in his ass
throbbing. Jace dropped his head back against Mikhail’s shoulder as
pleasure radiated throughout his body.

He ached.
He burned.
He…
“Mikhail,” Jace cried out as ecstasy overwhelmed him. His breath

caught in his throat as the world around him exploded. He distantly
heard the loud roar of the man behind him, but the pleasure bursting
through him overrode Jace’s ability to make sense of it.

He just knew he had died and gone to heaven and all because of

the man shooting loads of hot cream into his ass. The wet hand
holding his dick continued to stroke him until the room grew hazy, the
pleasure too intense to stay conscious.

Jace began to fade away. The last thing he heard before darkness

overcame him suddenly didn’t frighten him quite so much as it did
before. In fact, it comforted him, made him feel safe and protected,
wanted.

“Mine!”

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

Chapter Six

Mikhail felt himself slip from Jace’s body as the man’s head fell

against his neck. Mikhail gathered Jace into his arms, marveling that
he held his forever mate in his arms after so many years of searching
for him.

Mikhail always knew his forever mate would be a man. He didn’t

know how he knew, he just did. He dreamed of Jace, of his soft
rounded curves and tight little body. He even dreamed that his mate
would have deep piercing baby-blue eyes.

What he hadn’t expected was a mate so beautiful, or one so

stubborn. Mikhail had no doubt that Jace would give him a run for his
money. Jace had trouble written all over him. Mikhail couldn’t wait.

Suddenly realizing that he ripped Jace’s clothes to shreds in his

haste to get to the man’s body, Mikhail chuckled and started looking
around. He needed something to cover Jace because Mikhail would be
damned if anyone would see his mate in this state of undress. Jace
belonged to him and only him. No one else had the right to see his
mate this way.

Mikhail gently laid Jace down on the floor, careful that his head

didn’t hit the hard concrete floor. He yanked his shirt off over his
head then slid it over Jace’s head, pulling the man’s arms through the
sleeves.

He couldn’t help but chuckle as he pulled the cotton shirt down

Jace’s body. It fell nearly to his knees, but at least it covered all of the
important bits and pieces. Mikhail didn’t want anything hanging out
for anyone to see.

Stormy Glenn

Once he was assured the Jace was adequately covered, Mikhail

picked the man back up in his arms and stood to his feet. His heart
thundered and he nearly dropped Jace when the man snuggled close.
Jace wrapped his arm around Mikhail’s neck and buried his face in
Mikhail’s neck, sighing deeply as if content to be right where he was.

Mikhail took a deep breath and shook his head. “You’re gonna be

the death of me, baby.” Mikhail nudged the door open and walked out
of the utility closet and right into Zus and a brown-haired man he had
wrapped in his arms.

“Uh, hey, Zus.”
“Mikhail.” Zus’s eyebrow arched at the nearly naked bundle

Mikhail held in his arms. “Friend of yours?”

“And then some.” Mikhail grinned. He nodded toward the man in

Zus’s arms. “And him?”

“The same.”
“Does he know?”
Zus shook his head. “He will be told when I feel the time is right.

Not before then.”

Mikhail cocked an eyebrow at his brother. “Do you think that is

wise?”

“He is mine,” Zus growled. “I decide what is right for him.”
Mikhail chuckled. “Just asking, Zus, just asking.”
His brother was a stubborn, possessive ass.
“Are you taking him home?” Zus asked as he nodded toward Jace.
“Yes.” Mikhail nodded. “He belongs with me. I just need to

convince him of that. Jace is a spitfire.” Mikhail glanced down
sharply when he heard the little man next to Zus snicker. “You have
something to say?”

The man quickly pressed his lips together and glanced down at the

floor, shaking his head. Zus growled. Mikhail was pretty sure that if
Zus pulled him any closer they would be sharing the same space. He
hoped the man was up to Zus’s brand of possession.

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

Mikhail knew for years of his brother’s sexual preferences.

Mikhail had a dominant personality. Zus just about made that seem
like he was a submissive on his knees. Zus was into some pretty kinky
shit. Mikhail hoped his little mate was ready for it.

“I’ll see you at home then?”
“We’ll be there.” Zus nodded. “Rue needs to speak to his friends

first then grab his stuff.”

Mikhail saw Rue’s lips tighten and knew that Zus was in for more

than he bargained for. Rue wasn’t going to be the easy submissive
Zus expected him to be. That might not be a bad thing for his brother.
A little resistance kept everyone on their toes.

He was quickly learning that.
“Have you seen Stefan or Yuri?”
“Not in the last little while, no.” Zus glanced behind him as if he

could magically see around the corner into the main room. “I assume
they are off doing exactly what we are doing.”

“If you see them, let them know I took Jace back to the house.”
Zus nodded and Mikhail walked past him, carrying Jace cuddled

against his chest. He could feel the curious eyes of those in the bar on
them as he carried Jace out of the bar. He couldn’t have cared less.
They might not like the idea of him being with a man, but that was
tough. Jace was his forever mate, and they had to respect that.

Mikhail carried Jace out to his truck and placed him on the bench

seat, belting him in. He closed the door and started around to the
driver’s side when he heard someone cry out. He froze, cautiously
glancing around the parking lot until he spotted his brother Stefan and
another man standing by Stefan’s truck.

Mikhail chuckled and shook his head, turning away to give the

two men some privacy. It was clear to see that Stefan and the man in
his arms were very busy. Mikhail couldn’t wait to meet the mate his
brother claimed, especially considering the man was also Jace’s
friend.

Stormy Glenn

He’d have to get used to the fact that Jace had other people in his

life because Mikhail seriously doubted that Jace was giving any of his
friends up. Mikhail would just have to ensure that he was number one.
Anything less was unacceptable.

Climbing into the driver’s seat, Mikhail closed the door and

started his truck. He pulled out, waiting until he reached the edge of
the parking lot to turn on his headlights. The least he could do for his
brother was not highlight the fact that he was fucking someone
against the side of his truck.

The drive back to his house was a short one as they lived just a

few miles away. Being unmated, Mikhail and his brothers shared the
home they grew up in, each having a different bedroom. Mikhail
didn’t know if that would change now that they mated. He also
wondered how Jace would feel living in a house full of men. It was
sure to be a surprise to the man.

Pulling up in front of the old farmhouse left to him and his

brothers by their parents, Mikhail turned off the engine and climbed
out. He hurried around to the passenger door and opened it, reaching
for his mate.

The noise from Mikhail kicking the door closed roused Jace. The

man mumbled something and tried to burrow into Mikhail’s chest.
Mikhail stopped walking when he reached the porch steps to watch
Jace’s long eyelashes flutter.

Damn, the man was gorgeous.
“Mikhail?” Jace whispered. Mikhail’s heart pounded with delight

that his name was the first thing on Jace’s lips when he woke.

“Hey, baby.”
Jace glanced around, frowning. “Where are we?”
“My house,” Mikhail replied, watching Jace’s reaction carefully.

He wasn’t going to do anything that might get the little man angry at
him again. “Well, my family’s house. I share the place with my three
brothers.”

“Where are—”

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

“Your friends should be along shortly,” Mikhail said, anticipating

Jace’s question. “I sort of destroyed your clothes back at the bar and
thought bringing you home might be the best thing. I didn’t want you
out running around naked for everyone to see.”

“Just you?”
“Yeah, just me.” Mikhail grinned. Jace rolled his eyes. Mikhail

expected nothing less from his little spitfire. “Do I have your
permission to take you to my room?” Mikhail asked, but it didn’t
really matter. He was taking Jace to his bed whether the man agreed
or not.

“I don’t suppose you have a bed in this place, do you?” Jace’s

face flushed as he winked at Mikhail. “The wall in the utility closet
was pretty hot, but I wouldn’t mind trying out a soft flat surface.”

Mikhail swallowed hard.
Damn!
He didn’t say a word as he hurried up the stairs and into the house.

A quick bound up the stairs and down the hallway and Mikhail was
edging the door to his bedroom open.

“Will that suffice?”
Jace glanced at size bed that dominated the middle Mikhail’s

room. Mikhail chuckled when Jace’s eyes widened. He ordered the
bed custom made. It was larger than even a king-sized bed, plenty of
room for both of them to roll around on.

“That just might do it.” Jace squeaked when Mikhail walked over

and dropped him on the mattress. Mikhail was on the man before his
body even had time to bounce. He grabbed Jace and lifted him up to
the top of the bed then pulled the shirt he wore over his head, tossing
it away.

Mikhail knelt down between Jace’s spread legs. He lightly ran his

hands over Jace’s thighs, watching with interest as Jace’s cock started
to rise right before his eyes.

“Fuck me, you’re shaved,” Mikhail hissed as he got a good look at

Jace’s groin.

Stormy Glenn

“Is that a problem?”
Mikhail leaned down and scrapped his tongue from the bottom of

Jace’s ball sac, over his cock, to his belly button. Jace cried out and
arched up into the air. Mikhail lifted his head and grinned down at
Jace’s flushed face.

“Nope, not a problem at all.”
Jace panted. He licked his lips. He looked sexy as hell. “Can I see

you naked?”

Mikhail couldn’t move off the bed fast enough. If his mate wanted

to see him naked, Mikhail was all for it. He quickly stripped off his
shoes then dropped his jeans, kicking them away before standing in
front of Jace in all his glory.

Jace just stared. Mikhail watched the man’s eyes move down his

body, each flicker of Jace’s baby-blue eyes making his cock harden
even more. By the time Jace’s intense stare reached his groin,
Mikhail’s cock was standing up at full mast, thickening and throbbing
with need.

Mikhail’s eyes nearly crossed when Jace crooked his finger and

gestured for him to get on the bed. He growled low in his throat as he
crawled onto the mattress and upward until he was once again
kneeling between the man’s legs.

“Can I touch you?”
“Yes, please,” Mikhail hissed. “You can always touch me.”
Jace sat up and started rubbing his hands over Mikhail’s chest.

Mikhail clenched his hands into fists as he strove to keep from
reaching for his mate. Grabbing him and fucking him into the
mattress sounded like a wonderful plan to Mikhail.

“You are so hot!”
Mikhail’s heart pounded faster. “Yeah?”
“All this skin?” Jace asked as he stroked his hands over Mikhail’s

slick chest. “These muscles? I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything
hotter.”

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

Mikhail’s head dropped back on his shoulders and he groaned

loudly when Jace leaned forward to flick his tongue over one of
Mikhail’s nipples. Mikhail tried to be gentle as he gripped Jace’s
shoulders, but it was hard for him. Jace’s tongue felt so damn good
against his body. The man was unleashing a monster, and he didn’t
even know it.

“Careful, baby,” Mikhail warned, “not sure how much more of

that I can take without attacking you.”

Jace suddenly looked up at him, a little grin playing across his

lush lips. Mikhail nearly swallowed his tongue when Jace lay back
against the bed and stretched his hands up over his head, arching his
body. Overwhelming lust shot through Mikhail at the sight of the man
displayed before him.

“Attack away,” Jace said. “I’m all yours.”
Mikhail wished that was true, but he knew he would have a lot of

convincing to do before Jace agreed to be fully his, even if they were
already bonded. Still, he wasn’t about to turn the gorgeous man down
if he was offering.

His mama didn’t raise no fool.
Mikhail smacked Jace’s hip. “Knees up to your chest, baby.”
Jace grinned and pulled his knees up to his chest, spreading them.

Mikhail’s vision blurred for just a moment as the blood rushed from
his head and filled his cock until he thought he might explode.

The way Jace held his legs opened him right up for Mikhail, the

man’s pink hole right there in front of him. Mikhail reached down and
stroked his finger across the puckered flesh, watching it quiver at his
touch.

He wiped several drops of pre-cum off the head of his cock and

rubbed it over Jace’s tight entrance, watching with deep anticipation
as the natural lubrication started loosening Jace up almost
immediately.

Times like this made Mikhail very thankful he was a shifter.

Stormy Glenn

Mikhail scooted closer and grabbed his dick, rubbing the head

over Jace’s tight entrance. He could see Jace’s hands clench on his
thighs so hard the man’s knuckles went white. When he glanced
down, the sight of Jace’s body practically begging for his cock made
Mikhail inhale harshly.

Mikhail leaned forward and sank the head of his cock inside

Jace’s body. Once Jace’s inner muscles gripped him, he dropped his
hand from his cock and grabbed his mate’s thighs, pushing them
closer to Jace’s chest. From this position, he could sink in up to his
balls and never lose sight of the intriguing view below him.

And that was just what he did, groaning when his body was flush

against Jace’s. Mikhail closed his eyes then froze, savoring the feeling
of his mate wrapped around him. He also needed just a moment to
regain control, if he could. As it was, he felt like he hung on by a
thread.

“I guess this means we’re skipping the foreplay again?”
Mikhail’s eyes popped open, and he stared down at Jace. The man

had a slight smirk on his face, one eyebrow arched. Mikhail chuckled,
unable to stop himself. He moved up, his hands on either side of
Jace’s face, his body dropping down to press against the soft body
beneath him. Mikhail brushed the ash-blond hair back from Jace’s
face.

“I guess things have been kind of quick between us, huh?”
“Well,” Jace said, “you’ve fucked me twice now, this being

number three. And each one of them have been fantastic, don’t get me
wrong, but they have each been rather quick, too. I’m starting to
wonder about your stamina.”

Mikhail felt his eyebrows shoot up at Jace’s unspoken challenge.

He couldn’t exactly remember the last time someone had challenged
him, and it certainly wasn’t ever someone he had in his bed.

But Mikhail was never one to turn down a challenge.

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

Mikhail grabbed Jace around his waist and rolled them over until

Jace was on top of him, still impaled on his hard cock. The new
position allowed Mikhail to slide into his mate just a little more.

Jace growled and arched his body.
Jace wanted foreplay? Mikhail would give it to him, in spades. He

started with the man’s shoulders, gently running his hands over Jace’s
soft skin until he reached the two brown nubs that begged to be
tugged on, and tug he did, as well as twist and pinch before moving
further own Jace’s body.

Mikhail stroked every bit of naked flesh he could reach, and he

had really long arms. Jace groaned and moaned, panted and hissed.
His body shuddered. His hands clenched on Mikhail’s forearms. He
arched into Mikhail’s touch, his head falling back on his shoulder.

By the time Mikhail reached Jace’s leaking cock, the man was

bouncing up and down on Mikhail’s cock, impaling himself. His
moans had turned into one long whimper. Mikhail felt sweat drip
down Jace’s silky skin.

Mikhail encircled Jace’s cock and stroked him slowly. Jace cried

out, his body going taut. Mikhail couldn’t stand it anymore. He leaned
up, wrapping one arm around Jace’s body. The hand on his other arm
was busy jerking his mate’s cock.

“Had enough foreplay yet, baby?”
Jace’s fingers dug into Mikhail’s shoulders. His baby-blue eyes

were wild when he looked at Mikhail and hissed. “Fuck me!”

Mikhail chuckled and gripped Jace’s hips. He pulled the man

closer until Jace’s cock was mashed between their bodies. Jace was
tight against Mikhail. His smaller body fit perfectly against Mikhail’s.

He started lifting Jace then pulling him down onto his cock. Over

and over again, Jace’s tight body accepted him, surrounded him. Hot,
wet silk gripped him, massaged him, squeezed him. Mikhail knew he
would never feel anything as good as being inside of his mate.

Stormy Glenn

Keeping one hand wrapped around Jace’s body, Mikhail wrapped

the other in the man’s hair, pulling his head back. Mikhail’s eyes fell
to the pulse beating at the base of Jace’s throat. He licked his lips.

“Do it,” Jace whispered.
Mikhail’s eyes flickered to Jace’s then back down to the silent

throb in Jace’s neck. He leaned in and stroked his tongue across the
soft skin. Jace’s unique flavor filled his senses. No one on the planet
tasted as good as his Jace.

“Mikhail.”
Mikhail sank his teeth in. The sweet nectar of Jace’s blood

flooded his mouth. Jace suddenly bucked so hard Mikhail could
barely hold onto the man. He screamed, his body going stiff as wet
hot heat filled the space between them.

Tight muscles clamped down on Mikhail’s cock. Mikhail groaned

at the exquisite sensation. He extracted his canines from Jace’s throat
and licked the bite wound closed. Gripping Jace tightly in his arms,
Mikhail thrust up into him just as he pulled the man’s body down.

The tight grip Jace’s body had on him combined with the force of

their bodies coming together was enough to make Mikhail explode.
He roared as his body overloaded, filling his mate with his seed.

A couple of more thrusts and Mikhail’s entire body shook with the

intensity of pleasure coursing through him. It seemed impossible to
him that a man so much smaller than him could create such huge
feelings.

Jace was amazing.
Mikhail held Jace against him as he waited for his breathing to

return to normal. He could feel Jace’s soft breath blowing across his
flesh where the man’s face was buried in his neck. It made his skin
tingle.

Mikhail shuddered as he pulled free of Jace’s body and gently laid

his mate down on the bed. He could feel Jace’s eyes watch him as he
climbed off the bed and walked into the bathroom. Jace was still

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

watching when he came back a moment later with a wet washcloth
and cleaned him up, then himself.

Tossing the washcloth into the hamper, Mikhail lifted Jace up and

pulled the blankets down. He carefully laid his mate down the
climbed in beside him, pulling the blankets up over both of them.

“Come here, baby,” he said quietly, holding his arms out to Jace.

Once Jace was settled against him, the man’s head on Mikhail’s chest
and arm wrapped around his waist, Mikhail sighed deeply. He was
satisfied and in more than just a sexual way. He held his forever mate
in his arms, and Jace didn’t seem to want to go anywhere.

Could life get any better?

Stormy Glenn

Chapter Seven

Jace wiggled back against the warm hard body behind him. He

smiled when the muscular arm wrapped around his waist tightened.
He could seriously get used to waking up this way every day for the
rest of his life.

That thought sobered Jace in an instant, the smile falling from his

lips. He remembered begging Mikhail to bite him the night before, to
claim him. He guessed after that the rest of his life was pretty much
worked out.

He was somehow bound to a mountain of a man that could

transform into the largest white tiger Jace had ever seen. Mikhail was
also the sexiest man Jace had ever seen. He’d rocked Jace’s world so
many times the previous night, Jace still felt the deep ache in his ass.
And strangely enough, he wanted more, even knowing what Mikhail
was.

It was all too much to think about this early in the morning. Jace

needed coffee, he needed a shower, and he needed clean clothes. Only
then could he really start to think about what all of this meant to his
life.

“Mikhail, I need coffee.”
“Mmmm, downstairs in the kitchen, baby,” Mikhail murmured

without even opening his eyes. He just tightened the arm wrapped
around Jace’s waist and buried his face in Jace’s neck, going right
back to sleep.

“Uh, Mikhail, you have to let go of me.” Jace patted Mikhail’s

warm skin as he tried to turn over in the man’s arms.

“Don’t wanna.”

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

“I’ll bring you a cup of coffee.” He was willing to use bribery to

get what he wanted.

“Not worth it.”
Jace chuckled. “I’ll bring you a cup of coffee and blow you while

you drink it.”

Mikhail’s eyes popped open. “You’ll what?”
“I need coffee, Mikhail.”
“That’s not what you said, Jace.”
“Prove it.” Jace broke out into giggles when Mikhail growled and

rolled over on top of him. His hands were quickly pinned over his
head, Mikhail’s larger body settling between his spread legs.

When his lips were claimed, Jace forgot about everything but the

man above him and the sweet feel of the lips plundering his. The kiss
sent the pit of his stomach into a swirl. No one on the planet kissed
like Mikhail.

Only the need for life-giving air could have made Jace pull away.

He almost groaned in protest when he needed to. Panting softly, he
looked up into the emerald-green eyes staring down at him. What
little breath he had caught in his throat at the adoration he could see in
Mikhail’s soft gaze.

“Mikhail,” he hissed softly and turned his face into the hand that

stroked down the side his face then moved back to curl in his hair.

“Are you going to stay, Jace?” Mikhail whispered.
Jace could see the hesitation in Mikhail’s eyes, the anxiety, and

even the fear. He knew his answer was important to the man. He
couldn’t just give one of his usual glib replies. He really needed to
think about it and not while Mikhail touched him because that just
made Jace lose his mind.

“I’d like to, Mikhail, but I really need to think about this. It’s a big

decision, and I’m not talking about the whole shifting thing either.
You and I are not exactly easygoing people, and we don’t know that
much about each other. I can’t make this decision lightly, no matter
how much I want to.”

Stormy Glenn

Mikhail stared at him for a moment, then slowly nodded his head.

“I understand.”

When Mikhail started to turn away, Jace quickly reached up and

cupped the man’s face in his hand. “I want to stay, Mikhail. Please
believe that. I just need some time to think.” He smiled up at Mikhail
to show him he wasn’t upset. “And I need coffee first.”

Mikhail chuckled and dropped his head down to rest against

Jace’s forehead. “Okay, baby, I get it. There’s a pair of old jogging
pants that might fit you in the dresser and coffee downstairs in the
kitchen. You go get a cup while I jump in the shower real quick. I’ll
join you as soon as I’m done.”

“Getting all cleaned up for me?”
Mikhail laughed as he moved to the side of the bed. The corners

of his lips were curled up in a smile as he glanced over his shoulder
and winked at Jace. “I’m still hoping for that blow job.”

Jace rolled his eyes as he climbed out of bed, but he couldn’t keep

the smile from moving across his lips. He couldn’t think of anything
he’d like more than to feel Mikhail’s cock in his mouth… well, except
maybe coffee.

Jace searched around until he found the pair of jogging pants

Mikhail was talking about. He was glad the damn things had a
drawstring. They barely hung onto his hips and bunched at his feet.
The T-shirt he added didn’t help. It hung down to his knees. He
looked like a little kid playing dress-up with his daddy’s clothes.

Oh well, at least he was dressed.
Jace made his way downstairs to the kitchen. He noticed Bay

sitting at the table in the breakfast nook the moment he walked. The
man didn’t even take his lips away from the coffee he was drinking,
just pointed to the kitchen.

Jace poured himself a cup and staggered over to the table to join

Bay. Neither man said anything for several moments. The coffee was
just too good, and some things needed to be savored.

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

He was doing just that when Liam and Rue wobbled into the

kitchen. Jace smirked when Bay got up and poured the two men a cup
then another for himself. All three men walked to the table and sat
down. Again silence reigned in the room as each man slowly woke
up.

“I lost my purse.”
Jace snickered as Bay spewed coffee across the table at Liam’s

words, the first spoken since anyone came into the room. “That’s all
you have to say? You lost your purse?”

“It was a nice purse,” Liam insisted.
“Liam,” Bay said, “I’m pretty sure a majority of us, if not all of

us, got laid last night by a bunch of guys we don’t know.”

“Like that’s news,” Jace snorted when Bay rolled his eyes.
“I’m just saying, things are a little stranger than Liam losing his

purse.”

“Again, that’s not news, Bay,” Jace said. He glanced over at Liam

and Rue. He was pretty sure from the grins he saw on their faces, Rue
and Liam had also been mated to white tigers.

And wasn’t that a hoot?
“What’s going on here?”
Jace’s head snapped around to look at Bay. He was confused by

the look on Bay’s face. Hadn’t he bonded with one of the brothers?
Bay obviously slept with someone. He even admitted it. So, why was
Bay looking so puzzled?

“What do you mean?” Liam asked before taking another sip of his

coffee.

“There’s something more going on than all of us getting laid last

night,” Bay said. “I can see it in the way you all are looking at each
other.”

The three men looked at each other again and laughed.
Jace looked back at Bay, ready to tell the man he’d missed out on

something really special when he heard a noise down the hallway. A
moment later, Mikhail appeared with two other men.

Stormy Glenn

Jace gave the two strangers the briefest of glances before Mikhail

filled his vision. His heart thundered in his chest as the large man
walked across the kitchen to him then leaned down to kiss him.

Jace barely suppressed his groan when he felt Mikhail’s tongue

brush across his lips then delve inside to rub against his tongue.
Seriously, no one kissed like Mikhail. By the time the man lifted his
head and sat next to him, Jace was ready to rip his clothes off right
there and then.

He reluctantly tore his gaze away from Mikhail’s handsome form

when Bay cleared his throat.

“Are you going to introduce me?” Bay asked when everyone

looked over at him.

“You know Yuri,” Liam said from the big man’s lap. “You met

him last night.”

Bay nodded.
“These are my brothers, Mikhail and Zus,” Yuri said as he

gestured to the two other men. “I kind of thought Stefan would be
here with you.”

Jace’s eyebrows shot up when Bay’s face flushed, his eyes darting

away. “I’m sure he’s around here somewhere,” Bay replied. “He lives
here, doesn’t he?”

“He does,” Mikhail said.
Bay fidgeted with his coffee cup “Stefan and I had a difference of

opinion last night.” Bay shrugged. “I asked him to leave, and he did.
I’m sure he’ll be back once we leave.”

Silence filled the room. Jace suddenly felt Mikhail’s arm wrapped

around his waist, pulling him closer. He didn’t want to look at
Mikhail and see the anger he knew was percolating there, but he
couldn’t seem to stop himself.

What he found nearly took his breath away. Mikhail was looking

at him like a man that was about to lose the most important thing in
his life. Jace couldn’t stand it. He had to take that anguished look off
Mikhail’s face.

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

Jace reached over and grabbed Mikhail’s hand, giving it a squeeze

as he shook his head slightly. Mikhail seemed to understand what
Jace was trying to say as a huge grin broke out over his face and he
squeezed Jace’s hand back.

“Did I miss something?” Bay asked.
“Bay—” Jace began. His words were suddenly cut off by the

sound of several vehicles pulling into the front yard.

He watched Mikhail jump up and hurry to the window, pulling

back the curtains to look out. A moment later, he turned around, a
deep frown on his face as he gestured to Yuri and Zus. “It’s Craigen
and his boys.”

Who? Jace glanced around in confusion. His eyes widened when

Yuri and Zus jumped to their feet and headed for the door. What in
the hell was going on, and why did everyone look so worried?

“What’s going on?” Bay asked.
“Stay in the house,” Mikhail directed. “Do not come outside, no

matter what. We’ll handle this.”

Jace nodded quickly. He didn’t know what in the hell was going

on, but Mikhail looked fierce.

“Mikhail, what’s going on?” Bay asked as he jumped to his feet.
“It’s just some people from town that we have to deal with. It’s

nothing for you to worry about. Just stay in the house and you’ll be
safe.”

Jace pursed his lips for the kiss he could see coming his way. It

was short and sweet, but at least Mikhail remembered to kiss him.
That was a good trait in a lover.

“Mikhail!”
Jace snickered when Bay almost stomped his foot in frustration.

Bay hated not knowing what was going on. He liked being in control.
Jace was in no way surprised when Bay jumped up and ran toward the
window when the front door closed.

In fact, that didn’t seem like such a bad idea. Jace jumped up and

ran over to the window Bay was looking out of. “What do you see?”

Stormy Glenn

Jace asked as he tried to push Bay out of the way so he could look. “Is
Mikhail okay?”

Jace felt Rue and Liam push in behind him as he spotted Mikhail

and his brothers facing off against several strangers. He held his
breath as he watched the confrontation out the window. He couldn’t
hear a thing, but Mikhail’s stiff posture told him this wasn’t the
welcoming committee.

When one of the strangers suddenly took a swing at Mikhail, Jace

cried out and tried to run toward the door. He struggled when Bay
grabbed him around the waist and held him back. He needed to get to
Mikhail and help him.

“Jace, knock it off,” Bay shouted. “What the hell is wrong with

you?”

“Mikhail!” Jace shouted. “I need to get to Mikhail.”
“You need to stay here!”
“I think staying here is a very, very bad choice for you.”
Jace blinked when Bay suddenly shoved him backward. He

peeked out from behind Bay, swallowing hard when he saw a man
standing across the room from them. It was one of the men from
outside. But how in the hell did he get inside the house?

“What do you want?” Bay asked. “You don’t belong here. You

need to leave.”

Jace rolled his eyes when Bay slowly edged his way in front of

him, Rue, and Liam. God knew he loved Bay, but the man could be a
little too intense sometimes. Bay felt like it was his responsibility to
take care of the world.

“You don’t belong here,” the man snapped as he pointed his

finger at the four of them. “We may have to put up with Mikhail and
his brothers fooling around with men on the side, but we’re not going
to put up with them mating men. They need to mate women and
continue the line.”

Not in this fucking universe, bub!
Mikhail was his, damn it.

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

“You all need to leave before me and the boys are forced to make

you leave.”

“This isn’t your house,” Bay said. “You need to leave.”
Jace tried to push past Bay, but the man spread his arms out,

keeping Jace, Rue, and Liam trapped behind him. Jace stiffened and
started a low growl in the back of his throat. He didn’t know who he
was more pissed at, Bay for keeping him trapped against the wall or
the man shouting at them.

“Look, I’m sure we can work this out,” Bay started. Always the

peacekeeper. “We just need to—”

“Leave!”
Jace felt the blood drain from his face when the man suddenly

pulled out a gun and pointed it at them. It was a big fucking gun. He
glanced out the window real quick but saw that Mikhail and his
brothers would be no help. They looked like they were in a fight for
their lives outside.

Jace, Bay, Rue, and Liam were on their own.
“Now, look, dude, this isn’t—”
“I will only tell you once,” the man said as he waved the gun at

Bay, “get out now or die, and believe me, I’d much rather shoot you
where you stand.” The man’s lip curled in disgust as he sneered.
“Can’t stand queers, always fucking things up, thinking they’re better
than the rest of us.”

“Okay, we’re going,” Bay said. “Just don’t shoot.”
The hell they were.
Jace liked it here. He liked Mikhail. He wasn’t going to let some

stupid redneck with more balls than brains ruin it for him. He growled
again and started forward. He didn’t have a clue what he was going to
do, but he wasn’t leaving without a fight.

After that, things seemed to happen in slow motion. Jace jumped

toward the man. The redneck raised his gun, pointed it at Bay, and
pulled the trigger. Jace felt terror flicker through his body as he
turned, knowing he would see his best friend lying in a pool of blood.

Stormy Glenn

He was wrong. Instead, a large blur of white jumped between Bay

and the bullet. Jace heard a loud roar, and the blur crashed to the
floor. It lay there for just a moment then jumped up and leapt at the
man with the gun, attacking him.

Jace turned away, unwilling to watch the redneck be torn to

pieces. That was just gross. Unfortunately, the dwindling sounds of
the man’s scream were almost as bad as watching. Then, as suddenly
as it all seemed to start, everything stopped. The room was silent. No
one moved as if everyone were frozen in place.

Jace turned back and almost threw up. Blood was splattered

everywhere, bits and pieces of the stranger littering the floor. Yeah,
that was really gross. He looked up when the large white tiger
climbed to its feet and turned toward Bay. A long mournful yowl
came from the creature before it limped several steps toward Bay.

Before it could reach him, Bay started backing away.
The tiger stopped, yowled again, and then collapsed down on the

floor. Jace pushed past Bay and rushed to the side of the fallen
animal. Mikhail, Yuri, and Zus were all outside, so Jace knew this had
to be Stefan.

He couldn’t let Mikhail’s brother die. It would devastate Mikhail.

He started running his hand over the bloodied tiger, searching for
injuries. There was so much blood. Jace couldn’t figure what
belonged to the tiger and what belonged to the dead man.

“Get away from him, Jace,” Bay shouted.
Jace glanced over at Bay just in time to see the man push his hand

through his hair and pull on the ends. Was he fucking nuts? Bay just
covered his mouth. Jace shook his head and jumped to his feet to run
to the door.

“Mikhail,” Jace shouted, “Stefan’s been shot.”
He glanced back when he heard another soft yowl come from the

tiger. Stefan was struggling to his feet, looking at Bay like his world
was coming to an end. Jace didn’t know what had happened between
the two men, but now was not the time to figure it out.

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

Bay looked totally freaked out. His hair kind of stood on its end as

he ran his fingers through the black strands. The man paced back and
forth, stopping every few steps to look at Stefan, his forehead
wrinkling in confusion.

Stefan yowled again, making Bay jump. His face paled. Jace

wanted to roll his eyes. Bay was being ridiculous. Jace felt like bitch
slapping the guy when he just stared at Stefan as the tiger wobbled to
his feet.

When Stefan started to stagger toward the back door, Jace glanced

out the front door. He knew Stefan shouldn’t be leaving, but he
wasn’t sure how he was supposed to stop a four-hundred-pound tiger.
He just hoped Mikhail hurried up.

“Stefan’s been shot? But that means—” Bay shook his head as he

slid down the wall to sit on the floor.

“Yes, Bay,” Jace said softly as he sat down next to Bay. “That

was Stefan.”

“But…how?”
“They were born this way.”
“They?” Bay looked sick to his stomach.
“Stefan and all of his brothers.”
“Fuck, Jace, why didn’t you tell me?”
Jace shrugged. “Well, to tell you the truth, I was a little bit busy

with my own tiger. And I kind of figured Stefan would tell you
himself.”

Bay stared down at his hands, twisting his fingers together. “I

think he tried to,” Bay whispered. “I was just too stubborn to listen to
him.”

“That sounds about right for you.” Jace chuckled.
“Christ, Jace, I was just so angry at him for fucking me without a

condom and then lying about it. I just—”

Well, that explained a lot. Bay had serious issues with not using

condoms. He had a close friend die after catching something deadly,
and he was a fanatic about safe sex.

Stormy Glenn

“You do know he can’t give you anything, right?” Jace asked.
“Yeah, I’m starting to figure that out,” Bay said as he climbed to

his feet. “I need to find Stefan and talk to him.”

“We need to find Stefan and see how hurt he is.” Jace rolled his

eyes and pointed to the small trail of blood leading out of the kitchen.
Talking was the least of their problems right now. “I don’t think he’s
going to last long with a bullet in him.”

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

Chapter Eight

Mikhail raced back into the house, skidding to a stop when he saw

the blood everywhere. He quickly scanned the room until he spotted
Jace standing by Bay then ran over and wrapped his mate up in his
arms.

“Are you harmed, mate?” Mikhail’s heart thundered in his chest

until Jace shook his head.

“No, this isn’t my blood,” Jace said. “It’s Stefan’s and his.” Jace

pointed to what was left of Peter Craigen, and that wasn’t much. The
man had been torn to shreds.

“What happened?” Mikhail asked as he glanced around at the

carnage, swallowing hard when his stomach threatened to rebel. The
dining room looked like a war zone.

“He came in the back door.” Mikhail tightened his arms around

Jace when the man shuddered. “He had a gun, Mikhail. He was trying
to force us to leave. He—”

“He tried to shoot me,” Bay said quietly.
Mikhail’s eyes snapped to Bay. The man looked unhurt. “And?”
“Stefan got in the way then tore the man apart,” Jace said.

“Stefan’s shot, Mikhail. He took off out the backdoor.”

“What?” Mikhail roared.
“He’s in his tiger form, Mikhail.”
“Fuck!” Mikhail pushed a hand through his hair. This was so not

good. If Stefan was hurting and he spent too much time in his tiger
form, he could stay that way, never becoming human again. He’d go
feral. “We have to find him.”

“Mikhail?”

Stormy Glenn

Mikhail turned when he heard Zus’s voice. Rue stood right behind

the man. “Stefan’s been shot.”

The blood drained from Zus’s face. “Where is he?”
“Jace said he took off.”
“We have to find him!”
“Yuri and I will go,” Mikhail said, knowing Zus would agree.

“Stay here and protect our mates.”

Zus nodded.
“Tell me where the first aid stuff is,” Jace said as he started

pushing Mikhail toward the backdoor. “The boys and I will get things
ready back here and clean this mess up.”

Mikhail grinned. Jace was the perfect mate. “The first aid kit is in

the bathroom cabinet at the top of the stairs. Is there anything else you
need before I go?”

“Take that thing with you.” Jace’s finger shook as he pointed to

the dead body on the floor.

Zus leaned down and picked the body up without saying a word

and carried it outside, Rue right on his heels. Several sighs of relief
filled the room when the body disappeared out the door, reminding
Mikhail that while his mate and friends seemed somewhat accepting
of their nature, they were still new to the shifter world.

“Jace, we need to talk when I get back.”
Jace paled. “Talk?”
“Nothing horrible, baby.” Well, Mikhail didn’t think being the

alpha of his pride was horrible, but he could be wrong as far as a
human was concerned. “I just want to fill you in a little more about
life here.”

“Yeah.” Jace’s baby-blue eyes were big and rounded as he

glanced around the bloody room. “That would be good.”

Mikhail winced. This was not making a life with him look very

good. He was supposed to protect his forever mate. He had promised
he would. And the first time violence came knocking, he was outside
fighting while Jace’s life was being threatened.

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

He owed Stefan big time.
“I’m sorry, Jace.” Mikhail didn’t think he could say it enough.
“Just go,” Jace waved his hand in a dismissive motion. “Find

Stefan and bring him home.”

Mikhail nodded and headed for the door.
“Mikhail.”
“Yeah, babe?” Mikhail paused at the doorway and glanced over

his shoulder. Jace had his arms crossed over his chest, and he was
tapping his foot. Mikhail was in trouble. He knew it. He had
obviously done something to piss Jace off. He just didn’t—oh!

Mikhail raced back across the room and pulled Jace into a kiss

that made him wish they were back upstairs in bed versus chasing
after his wounded brother. He was still a little stunned that one little
man—no matter how gorgeous he was—could make his cock ache so
damn much just from a simple kiss.

“I’ll be back,” Mikhail huffed when he lifted his head, trying to

draw air back into his lungs. He would have worried about how
affected he was if he didn’t see the lust burning in Jace’s dazed blue
eyes.

“I’ll be here,” Jace replied.
Mikhail pecked Jace on the lips just for good measure then headed

out the door. Yuri was waiting on the back porch for him. Mikhail
arched an eyebrow. “Zus?”

“He’s staying behind to protect our mates.”
Mikhail had never been more thankful that he had more than one

brother than he was in that moment. As much as he knew he needed
to go find Stefan, leaving his mate behind and unprotected unsettled
him.

Zus would keep the mates safe, which was good because Mikhail

really needed Yuri with him. Besides the fact that Zus was the most
viscous of them all, if Stefan refused to shift back to human form,
Mikhail would need his biggest brother to help carry Stefan’s heavy
furred ass back to the house.

Stormy Glenn

“Let’s go.” Mikhail started to shift until he saw a shadow fall over

him. He growled as he spun around, claws out and ready, until he saw
Bay standing behind him. “What do you want, Bay?”

“I’m going with you.”
Mikhail wanted to argue. He really did. He was pretty pissed at

Bay for rejecting Stefan. His brother was a gentle soul. He needed
someone to love him that knew that and understood it. Bay did not
seem like that guy.

One the other hand, Bay was Stefan’s mate and it was forbidden

to interfere between them. As his mate, Bay had the final say in what
happened to Stefan.

“Fine, but I’m not waiting for you so you had better keep up.”
“I’ll keep up.”
Mikhail chose not to shift since he had Bay with him. He left that

up to Yuri. It would take a little longer to track Stefan in two-legged
form, but Yuri was one of their best trackers. If anyone could find
Stefan, Yuri could.

Mikhail could hear Bay huffing and puffing behind him as they

hurried through the forest after Yuri. For a city boy, he was doing
pretty well. He was keeping up for the most part, and surprisingly,
Bay didn’t make as much noise as Mikhail thought he would.

Mikhail paused at a small grove of trees and waited for Bay to

catch up. Yuri was ahead of them, but after following the trail of
blood drops for awhile, Mikhail had a pretty good idea where Stefan
was headed.

“Anything?” Bay asked as he caught up and stopped, resting his

hands on his knees as he bent over and breathed deeply.

“There are some blood drops that Yuri is following, but we’re

pretty sure we know where Stefan is headed.” When Bay merely
arched an eyebrow, Mikhail rolled his eyes. “Stefan has a spot not far
from here that he likes to go to be alone. I suspect that’s where he
went.”

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

Bay stood up straighter, his eyes roaming the thickly wooded

landscape. “Where?”

“Uh…it’s a spot down by the creek.”
“That makes sense. That’s where I’d go.”
Hmm. Maybe Bay would be a good fit for Stefan after all. Well, if

the two of them could get their heads out of their collectives asses.
Maybe when everyone was safe, he would lock them in a room
together until they worked out their differences.

Mikhail turned and glanced out over the woods to hide his sudden

grin. That sounded like a fantastic plan to him. And he had just the
room in mind. His parents had a detention room built into the
basement in case they had any problems with anyone in the pride. It
would work for his purposes just fine. He just needed to find Stefan
and get him back to the house.

Mikhail stiffened when he heard a sudden roar. He knew that

sound. Mikhail took off toward the woods and the sound of that roar,
Bay hot on his heels. It didn’t take more than a moment to reach the
small grassy area on the edge of the creek.

Yuri was kneeling on the ground next to a white tiger, his hands

pressing down on the bloody wound in Stefan’s shoulder. Mikhail
quickly ran over and dropped to the ground on the other side of
Stefan. He reached down and curled his fingers in Stefan’s fur,
needing to the contact with his sibling.

Mikhail grimaced at the amount of blood covering Stefan’s fur.

“How is he?”

“Is he alive?” Bay asked as he dropped to the ground next to

Mikhail.

“He’s alive,” Yuri said, “but he’s lost a lot of blood.”
Mikhail whipped his shirt over his head and held it out to Yuri,

who grabbed it, balled it up, and then pressed it down over the
bleeding wound.

His face was lined with worry when he looked up. “We need to

get him back to the house, Mikhail.”

Stormy Glenn

“Do you want me to go get the truck?”
“No, that will take too long. We need to get him back to the house

as soon as possible. This bullet has to come out of his shoulder before
he bleeds out. It’s sitting on a nerve, preventing him from shifting.”

Damn.
Mikhail couldn’t even imagine not being able to shift. He loved

being on two legs, but he loved being on four legs just as much. He
didn’t know how humans did it. He’d go out of his mind if he only
had one form.

“Keep pressure on the wound,” Yuri said as he slid his arms under

the massive tiger. Yuri was the strongest of all of them. He was
probably the only one that could have lifted a fully shifted tiger.

Mikhail kept pressure on the wound as he started walking with

Yuri. “Bay, run back to the house and let them know we found Stefan
and we’re on our way back.”

“But—”
“Now, Bay!” Mikhail put the compulsion of the alpha tone in his

voice. He had never met a shifter or a human that could defy an alpha
command.

Bay blinked for moment as if adjusting to the authority in

Mikhail’s words and then spun and took off back through the woods
toward the house.

By the time the house came into view, the cloth Mikhail held on

Stefan’s wound was soaked. Mikhail was starting to grow seriously
worried about blood loss. Even if they got the bullet out, Stefan might
not have the energy to shift and heal. He would heal faster than a
normal human, but shifting would make the process almost
instantaneous.

The back door flew open when they reached the edge of the yard.

Bay came running out, not stopping until he was walking right
alongside of Mikhail and Yuri.

“How is he?” Bay’s voice wobbled, his eyes never leaving

Stefan’s furry form.

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

“He’s still alive, Bay.” Mikhail knew that Bay and Stefan were

having problems, but the relief that shook Bay at his words gave him
hope that the two men would be able to work them out. “He’ll be fine
if we can get the bullet out and he shifts.”

Mikhail prayed his words were true because Bay didn’t look like

he would survive any other outcome. Mikhail also didn’t want to lose
his brother.

Stefan was the youngest of them. He liked reading books and

watching the stars, sitting at his drafting board sketching out home
designs. He wasn’t a fighter unless someone he cared about was in
danger. He never had a bad word for anyone. His soul was gentle, and
he needed someone fierce that understood that.

From everything Mikhail had seen, Bay was just the man for

Stefan. He was a powerful human. He might not have the strength to
back up his fierceness, but Stefan did. Together—and assuming they
worked their shit out—they could be an unstoppable mating.

Mikhail smiled as his eyes strayed to the ash blond standing on

the back porch with Zus and the others. His heart skipped a beat as he
thought about what an unstoppable mating he would have if Jace
agreed to be his. He just needed to convince the man to stay.

Stormy Glenn

Chapter Nine

Jace rubbed his fingers together, grimacing at the blood that had

seeped into his cuticles. It was disgusting and gross and reminded him
of the mess he had to clean up in the dining room. Jace didn’t think he
had ever seen something so horrible.

Stefan had destroyed the man that threatened them. Granted, the

man had been dangerous. He held a gun on them and tried to force
them to leave. But still…did Stefan have to tear the man into little
pieces? Jace had almost tossed his cookies when he picked up an ear.

The world Mikhail had introduced him to seemed so damn

violent. Jace had been knocked around a time or two, but he wasn’t
used to this level of brutality. Staying didn’t seem all that good of an
idea. But leaving seemed even worse.

Jace didn’t know what to do.
He felt helpless as he watched Yuri carry Stefan into the house

and lay him down on the sheet-covered dining table. Jace had
considered clearing off one of the beds, but the table seemed better for
trying to get a bullet out. They could clean the blood off the wood. It
wouldn’t come out of a mattress.

Jace grabbed the cookie sheet he had laid all of the tools he had

found in the first aid kit out on and carried it over to the table. “I
sterilized everything I could find in the kit.”

Jace held back his opinion on Mikhail’s limited medical kit. He

got it that they were shifters and could heal by shifting, but that didn’t
mean situations like this wouldn’t come up. They needed a much
better kit, like one of those field combat medical kits that soldiers

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

carried into war zones because that was what the place had looked
like not long ago.

“Thanks, babe,” Mikhail said as he turned and pressed a kiss

to the side of Jace’s head. “Why don’t you go heat some water?”

Jace cocked his head. “Why?”
Mikhail’s mouth opened and closed like a drowning fish. “I

don’t know.” He shrugged. “Because that’s what people do in
situations like this?”

Jace rolled his eyes. “That’s what people do when women go

into labor. Not when someone needs a bullet dug out.”

“Oh, well…”
Jace waved his hand toward the table where the tiger lay. “Do

you even know what you’re doing here?”

“Jace, we don’t get injured like this very often.”
Well, that was good to hear.
“In fact,” Mikhail continued, “this is the first time one of us

has been shot. We’re kind of winging it here.”

Jace’s jaw dropped. “You’ve never done this before?”
Mikhail shook his head.
“Bay!” Jace knew immediately who they needed. Bay had

medical training. He had trained to be a registered nurse but never
took the exam, going into business with Jace, Liam, and Rue
instead. Jace knew if anyone could dig the bullet out, Bay could.

“Stop shouting,” Bay snapped from his position by Stefan’s

head. “They can hear you in the next county.”

“You’re going to have to dig that bullet out.”
Bay stared, slack jawed.
“No one here has the medical training than you do.”
“Damn.” Bay stared down at the tiger on the table, his fingers

clenching in Stefan’s fur. When he drew in a deep breath, Jace
knew Bay would do whatever needed to be done to save the
shifter.

He held the cookie sheet out. “What do you need?”

Stormy Glenn

“Light,” Bay answered as he started rolling up his sleeves, “and

lots of it.” He glanced at Mikhail. “Is there a bathroom down here?”

Mikhail glanced between Jace and Bay and then nodded, pointing

down the hallway that led off the dining room. “Yeah, second door on
your right.”

Jace looked around for a place to set the tray down. He knew Bay

would need it close by, but Stefan took up the entire table. “Uh,
Mikhail, do you have—”

“Here.” Zus set a side table down next to the dining table. There

was some sort of wooden box on top of it that raised the height, a
lamp clamped to the side of it.

“Perfect.” Jace set the cookie sheet down, glad to have it out of his

hands. The thing became pretty damn heavy after holding it for
awhile.

Yuri walked in with several lamps and began setting them around

the room. Jace was pretty sure that he had almost every lamp in the
house.

“Go get washed up, Jace,” Bay said as he walked back into the

room with his sanitized hands held up in the air. “You’re going to
assist me.”

“Me?” Jace squeaked.
“Yes, you,” Bay said as he grabbed a set of rubber gloves and

snapped them onto his hands. “Now go!”

Jace’s shoulders dropped, and he trudged off to the bathroom.

There was no way he was going to get out of this. He could tell it by
Bay’s voice. There was a tone the man used when he was serious
about something.

He was serious.
Jace quickly washed his hands, making sure he worked the soap

up his arms to his elbows, then dried off with the clean towel Liam
held out to him. He held his hands up just like Bay had as he followed
Liam back into the dining room.

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

“I would look so much better doing this if I had a set of those

cute little green scrubs with the penguins on them,” Jace grumbled
to himself as he slid his hands into the rubber gloves Liam handed
him.

“I’ll buy you a pair later, baby.” Mikhail chuckled as he

winked at Jace. “We can play doctor.”

The next hour blew by so fast that Jace felt like it had only

been a few minutes. He handed Bay the tools the man pointed at,
not having a clue what any of them did. He knew about Band-
Aids, not digging bullets out.

What Bay was doing seemed like back-breaking work. When

Bay stood up straight at one point, he groaned as his back
crackled. When he swayed just a bit, Mikhail was there to catch
him. Bay just smiled and went back to work.

“I got it!” Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when Bay

straightened and held up a small silver bullet with a set of
tweezers.

“I’ll take that.” Zus held out a small white envelope, sealing it

tight after Bay dropped the bullet in. “Silver is poisonous to
shifters.”

Jace gasped. “That man shot Stefan knowing he was using

silver bullets?” It was bad enough that the jackass had been
brandishing a gun, but to use a bullet that he knew was poisonous
to shifters?

“Ezra Craigen and his boys have been a thorn in my side since

we took over as alphas after our parents passed away.” Mikhail
grimaced as he rubbed the back of his neck as if all of the tension
he was feeling had gathered there. “If he had his way, my brothers
and I never would have been born.”

“Why?”
“Simple, Jace,” Zus said. “He wants power.”
“It’s more than that,” Mikhail said. “My grandfather didn’t

have any male heirs, and the alpha line won’t pass down to a

Stormy Glenn

female. So, when my mother came of age, there was a lot of
competition for her hand. Whoever married her would take over as
alpha.”

Jace frowned. “I thought you said shifters mated when they found

their forever mates?”

“Not everyone is lucky enough to find their forever mates, Jace,”

Zus said. “Very few of us do in fact. Most simply find someone they
are compatible with and mate with them. The bond isn’t as strong as
the one you have with a forever mate, but there is one.”

“Ezra tried to win the hand of our mother,” Mikhail said. “He

almost succeeded, too, but our father came through town before they
could mate. Mom took one look at him and knew he was her forever
mate. She refused to accept any other bids for her hand and mated my
father.”

“As you can imagine,” Zus continued, “Ezra was pissed. Not only

did he lose our mother, who was a beautiful woman, but he lost his
opportunity to become alpha.”

“But he went on to mate someone else, didn’t he?” Jace asked.

“He has sons.”

“He did, but he never forgave my parents for mating. He’s caused

problems ever since.” Mikhail’s face paled for a moment when his
eyes met Zus’s. “We suspect that he had something to do with our
parents’ deaths, but we could never prove it.”

“Then why not kick him out of the pride?” That was what

confused Jace. If the man was such a jerk, why was he still around?

“Ezra has never done anything big enough to give us a reason to

kick him out, always skating the edge of the law. He has to break one
of our more serious laws before we can banish him.”

Jace’s eyebrows shot up as he waved his hand toward Stefan’s

still body. “Will that do it?”

“Yep.” Mikhail’s jaw clenched. “We just have to wait until next

week when we have our monthly pride meeting. We can present the
evidence then and banish Ezra and his boys from the pride, and the

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

sooner the better. Now that Ezra knows about you all, he won’t
stop until he’s either banished or dead.”

“Why? What does that have to do with us?” Jace asked. He

had never even met the man before tonight. “Why did he try and
force us to leave?”

“A mated alpha is a better leader,” Zus replied. “He fights

harder and makes better decisions because he wants to provide a
safe, happy place for his mate, and by extension, the rest of the
pride.”

Jace frowned as he looked between the two brothers. “That

sounds pretty good. Why would Ezra be upset about it?”

“Because if we all find our mates,” Mikhail said, “he doesn’t

have a chance in hell of disrupting the pride and taking over, and
he knows it. My family has a reputation for creating the strongest
pride around for our mates. It’s been that way for centuries.”

The intensity in Mikhail’s piercing green eyes told Jace that

Mikhail didn’t have any plans in tarnishing his family’s reputation
now that he had found his mate.

There was a small glint of worry he could see in Mikhail’s

eyes. The man wasn’t that sure of him. It was a good thing Jace
was sure of Mikhail. “I guess that means I’ll be pretty damn safe
now that I’ve decided to stick around.”

Jace watched with smug delight as Mikhail’s eyes widened.

“Do you mean that?” Mikhail whispered.

He nodded. “It’ll take a little time to get things arranged, and

I’ll have to figure out how to coordinate work with the others. I
can’t leave them in the lurch.”

“No, of course not.” Mikhail swallowed hard, his eyes filling

with a fierce sparkling. “Take all the time you need.”

“Jace,” Bay called out, “we’re not done here.”
Oops.
Jace swung back around and stepped up to the table. “What do

you need?”

Stormy Glenn

“We have to clean the wound so that an infection doesn’t set in.”

Bay dapped at the wound to wipe away the fresh blood welling up
since he took the bullet out. “An infection can kill him just as fast as a
bullet.”

“Stefan just needs to shift,” Mikhail said. “Now that the bullet is

out, he shouldn’t have any problem.”

“Then why isn’t he shifting?”
Jace jumped back, shocked at the vehemence in Bay’s voice. He

had heard the man yell and shout plenty of times over the year, but he
had never heard such a frustrated and anxious tone in his voice before.

Mikhail’s steely eyes pinned on Bay. “Maybe he doesn’t think he

has a reason to shift.”

“But you just said he won’t heal if he doesn’t shift,” Bay insisted.
Mikhail’s features tightened. “Nope.”
“He’ll die!”
Jace inhaled at the anguish he could see in Mikhail’s face as the

man nodded, a single tear rolling down his cheek. “I know.”

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

Chapter Ten

Mikhail stroked his fingers through Stefan’s soft fur as he

watched his brother’s chest steadily rise and fall. Stefan hadn’t
shifted yet, but he was still alive. That was something. Still, it had
been hours. Most everyone else was passed out sleeping in the
living room, everyone refusing to go upstairs to bed. Mikhail
couldn’t rest either, not until he knew for sure if his baby brother
was going to live.

He was the oldest brother. And while the four of them shared

alpha duties, Stefan was still his responsibility. All of his brothers
were and had been since the day they were born.

“Come on, Stefan, shift.” Mikhail leaned down close to

whisper to his brother. This was the one time he didn’t think using
the alpha voice would work on the man. Stefan had to want to
shift, to heal. He needed to have a reason to live. The man
clutching a handful of Stefan’s fur and resting his head on his arm
as it rested on the table was a pretty damn good reason.

Bay had surprised Mikhail. After learning that the man had

rejected Stefan, Mikhail had been prepared to hate him. He had
even started to when he learned Stefan had taken a bullet for Bay
and then taken off into the woods to die.

Now, he wondered if his bad opinion of the man had been

made in haste. During the last several hours, he had watched Bay
talk to Stefan until his voice was hoarse, plead with him. He even
begged. So many tears had trailed down Bay’s pale face that he
had dried streaks on his cheeks.

Stormy Glenn

It was clear that Bay felt something for Stefan, something deep.

And he knew for a fact that Stefan felt something for Bay. He never
would have jumped in front of that bullet if he hadn’t. He merely
would have incapacitated the bastard holding the gun.

Mikhail could only pray that the two men had a chance to figure

things out between them. He was starting to think that Bay needed
Stefan just as much as Stefan needed Bay. The two men were perfect
for each other. He just wished they would hurry up and figure that
out.

Zus was an altogether different story. Mikhail was amused

watching his brother try and deal with the very submissive Rue.
Mikhail was still concerned about the dynamics of the dominant
submissive relationship between them. He knew he would need to
keep an eye on them to ensure Zus didn’t get out of control and that
Rue was where he wanted to be and not being overwhelmed by Zus’s
more dominant personality.

There wasn’t much to be worry about where Yuri and Liam were

concerned. As far as Mikhail could tell, the two men were perfect for
each other. Except for the fight earlier with Ezra and his boys, and
then going after Stefan, Mikhail hadn’t seen sunlight pass between
Yuri and Liam. It was like the two men were fused together.

Mikhail was both happy and worried for his brothers. Finding a

forever mate was rare and the four of them had found theirs in four
men that were best friends, and all on the same day. Fate had to have
a hand in that somehow. He couldn’t help but wonder what else Fate
had up her sleeve.

“Ezra is up to his old tricks, Stefan,” Mikhail whispered low so he

didn’t wake Bay up. “He’s after our mates. You need to shift and heal
so you can protect Bay.”

Mikhail jumped back when Stefan twitched. The change from

unconscious to rousing was almost instantaneous. Heavy eyelashes
fluttered and then deep emerald-green eyes blinked up at Mikhail.

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

“Hey.” Mikhail reached up and scratched behind Stefan’s ear.

“It’s about time you woke up. We’ve been waiting for hours.”

When Stefan just continued to stare at him, Mikhail stood

back and nodded to the sleeping man beside him. “He’s been
waiting, Stefan. He dug the bullet out, and he hasn’t left your side
since.”

Stefan’s massive head lifted. He chuffed as he leaned down to

sniff at Bay. Mikhail quickly stepped back to Stefan when a
mournful yowl filled the air. He reached out and smoothed his
hand over Stefan’s fur, giving his brother the comfort he needed.

“Give him a chance, Stefan. There’s a reason he was so upset

that you didn’t use a condom, why he feels like you lied to him.
Let him explain it to you so you’ll understand.”

Stefan’s fur began to recede, his bones cracking as they

realigned themselves. Mikhail stepped back and watched his
brother shift, marveling at how effortlessly he did it. Out of all of
them, Stefan was always the one that was able to shift quickly and
without too much fuss. The rest of them had to suffer through the
shift.

Bay must have felt the change come over Stefan. His head

suddenly popped up. His eyes widened, and he stood, taking a
step back.

Mikhail ground his teeth together, worried that Bay was going

to reject Stefan all over again. He started to step forward when
Stefan’s shift ended and Bay let out a glad cry, throwing himself
at Stefan.

Mikhail watched the two men for a moment then, knowing he

was no longer needed, turned and walked out of the dining room.
His steps were heavy but his heart light as he stopped in the
archway of the living room and stared at all of the sleeping bodies
spread out all over the place. Every couch, chair, and pillow was
taken up with a sleeping body.

Stormy Glenn

Zus and Yuri lifted their heads, staring at them with eyes filled

with apprehension as if waiting for bad news.

Mikhail swallowed past the tears in his throat, glad he didn’t have

to tell them that Stefan had died. “He shifted a moment ago.”

Yuri hugged the small man sleeping on his lap, burying his face in

Liam’s auburn-red hair. Zus clenched his hand around a fistful of
Rue’s hair and pressed his lips against the side of the man’s head, his
eyes closing briefly.

Mikhail stepped into the living room and walked over to the

overstuffed chair his mate was curled up in. He scooped the man up in
his arms, loving the way Jace snuggled into him, his face resting on
the hand he had on Mikhail’s chest.

Had anything ever been so adorable?
“I’m taking my mate to bed,” Mikhail said as he headed for the

stairs. “I suggest the rest of you do the same. We could all use a good
night’s sleep. I don’t think this thing with Ezra is over, and we need to
be on our toes.”

He could hear the people behind him moving and knew that his

brothers were gathering their own mates up and taking them to bed.
Mikhail stopped briefly at the dining room to check on Stefan and
Bay, quickly ducking out of the room when he saw both men
stretched out on the table. He would have to remember to clean it
really well before using it in the morning.

Jace started to rouse when Mikhail carried him into the bedroom

and laid him out on the bed. “Mikhail?” Jace murmured in a sleep
filled voice.

“Shh, baby, go back to sleep,” Mikhail said in a very low tone.

“I’m just getting you ready for bed.”

“Stefan?”
Mikhail smiled at Jace’s concern. He was going to make such a

great mate. “He shifted a little while ago. Bay is with him now.”

“Hmm.” Jace smiled but didn’t open his eyes. “Good.”

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

Mikhail finished pulling Jace’s clothes off then peeled his own

off, dropping everything on the floor. Usually he was pretty anal
about his bedroom being picked up, but tonight he was just too
tired. He would pick it up in the morning. Right now, he just
wanted to curl up with his mate and sleep until his eyeballs didn’t
ache anymore.

He shut off the bedside light and climbed into bed, his heart

catching when Jace rolled right to him and snuggled in. Mikhail
wrapped his arms around Jace, tucking the man’s head under his
chin, rubbing his hands up and down Jace’s back.

“Sleep, love.”
Mikhail closed his eyes. His mind burned with the memories

of the long lonely years he had waited to hold his forever mate in
his arms, and now here he was. Jace was so much more than he
ever imagined. He was kind and caring, fierce and loyal. He was
so sexy he made Mikhail’s teeth ache.

Mikhail had known there was something special about Jace

from the very beginning. He just never thought he would be lucky
enough to have a mate like him, and now Jace had agreed to stay.
That was the thought Mikhail held close as he cuddled his mate in
his arms and allowed himself to fade into sleep.

* * * *

Mikhail groaned as a wonderful wet heat enveloped his cock,

rousing him from his sleep. The mouth wrapped around his cock
pulled back and licked and sucked until Mikhail’s toes curled. It
didn’t start out slow. It went to hot and insane in one swallow.

“Shit!” Mikhail shouted when Jace began to hum around his

dick. The vibrations wrapped around Mikhail’s balls and shot
down to his toes. Jace’s tongue flickered over the very tip of
Mikhail’s cock, his lips creating a vacuum seal around Mikhail,

Stormy Glenn

nearly making him come. Mikhail was going to die a very happy man.

“Damn, baby,” Mikhail groaned, his hands sliding through Jace’s

hair, holding on as he shuddered and savored every second of what
the man was doing to his cock.

Jace murmured Mikhail’s name around his cock, ripping away

Mikhail’s control. He began to fuck Jace’s mouth in earnest, his dick
sliding down Jace’s throat as he thrust over and over again. His thigh
muscles quivered, his toes curled. His balls drew up so tight to his
body that they actually hurt.

Mikhail shouted as his back arched, his cock lodging in Jace’s

throat as hot jets of seed shot from his cock in pulse after pulse of
pure pleasure. He felt Jace’s satisfaction creep over him like fingertips
along his hypersensitive skin. The ability to feel Jace’s emotions was
something he was in awe of. It was deepest bond a shifter could feel
with a forever mate, one Mikhail had almost thought a myth until
now. He cupped Jace’s face when the man pushed up and settled on
his chest, pulling it toward his. His eyes locked onto Jace’s luscious
and tempting lips. They were perfectly made for kissing. They were
made for him. Mikhail claimed Jace’s mouth, his hands pressing into
Jace’s back, keeping him close as he tried his best to devour the man.
He wasn’t about to lose the chance to taste heaven.

Mikhail slid his hands up Jace’s sides, tilting his head for better

access. Jace opened, allowing Mikhail’s tongue to do whatever the
hell it wanted to. Unfortunately, Mikhail needed to breathe. And he
was pretty sure Jace did, too.

His lungs were burning for oxygen, Mikhail reluctantly pulled

back to stare up into his mate’s face. “Thank you, baby.”

“I love you.”
Mikhail’s breath caught as Jace handed him his most wished for

dream. “I love you, Jace. I always will.”

“Good. Then get me coffee.” Jace’s beautiful baby-blue eyes

promised revenge if he didn’t get what he wanted, and soon. “Now.”

Mikhail grinned at the unspoken threat. “Yes, sir.”

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

Jace growled.
Mikhail wrapped his arms around Jace and rolled him to the

edge of the bed. He covered Jace’s naked body with the sheet then
picked him up, heading for the door.

“What are you doing?”
“Taking you to get coffee.”
“Not naked, you’re not.” Jace wiggled until Mikhail rolled his

eyes and set the man on his feet. He waved his hand toward
Mikhail’s groin. “Those are my goodies and no one gets to see
them except me. Put something on.”

“I thought you wanted coffee now.”
Jace’s eyes narrowed. He crossed his arms over the sheet and

started tapping his foot. “I’ll wait.”

Mikhail quickly turned to grab for his jeans before the little

spitfire saw the smile on his face. He was pretty sure he would get
his nuts handed to him if that happened, at least before Jace had
his first cup of coffee.

The moment Mikhail had his jeans pulled up his legs and the

first few buttons done up, he swung Jace up in his arms and
carried him out of the bedroom, sheet and all.

“Mikhail!”
“Yes, my love?”
“Put me down.”
“Nope.” Mikhail grinned when Jace’s jaw dropped. His mate

would probably get his way in a lot of things merely because
Mikhail wanted to make him happy. That, and Mikhail had
learned to pick his battles. But every once in awhile it would be
good to rock Jace’s world a little.

Mikhail carried his mate into the kitchen and set him on the

counter. He watched Jace’s eyes light up when he spotted the
espresso machine in the corner. “Is there a flavor you prefer,
mate?”

“Um, hazelnut?”

Stormy Glenn

He could do that.
“Froth?”
Jace’s eyebrows drew together in an offended frown. “Of course.”
“One hazelnut espresso with froth coming right up.” Jace gasped

when Mikhail opened the cupboard above the coffee machine and he
saw all of the bottles of coffee flavoring. Mikhail winked at his mate
over his shoulder. “I fully admit it. I’m a coffee whore.”

Jace’s eyes rounded. “Marry me?”

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

Chapter Eleven

Jace groaned as he sipped his espresso. He couldn’t believe

how good it was. It was even better than his own. Mikhail had a
knack for knowing just the right amount of coffee, milk, and
flavoring to put into an espresso. Each cup was heaven.

In the last three days he had tried several different cups of

Mikhail’s delicious coffee. He knew he was overdoing it with the
caffeine, but he couldn’t seem to help it. Each cup was better than
the last one.

“Keep that up and I’m going to ground you from the espresso

machine.” Bay plopped down in the seat next to Jace. “I shouldn’t
hear sounds like that outside of your bedroom.”

“So says the man that broke in the dining room table with his

lover.”

Bay’s face flushed as Jace knew it would. He tried to hide the

fact that he and Stefan had fooled around on the table, but just
about everyone in the house knew they had.

“We need to think about heading home in the next day or so.

We have clients depending on us.”

Jace carefully set his coffee cup down on the table then placed

his hands in his lap. He was less likely to reach over and wrap
them around Bay’s throat that way.

“Bay, I’m staying.”
Bay sighed dramatically, flopping his hands out onto the table.

“I know this, Jace, but we still need to head home and pack our
stuff, let our customers know we’ll be working remotely.” Bay

Stormy Glenn

waved his hand around the room. “And god, this place needs an
Internet update like now. They are still using dial-up.”

Well, that explained why Jace couldn’t get his laptop to connect

for more than two seconds. “I’m sure after the pride meeting we could
get the guys to drive up with us and help us with all the furniture and
stuff.” Jace winked wickedly. “They can do all the heavy lifting.”

Bay’s lips spread into a big grin. “No shirts allowed.”
“Oh god, right?” Jace laughed. “Maybe we should make them

work in tight little shorts.”

Bay patted Jace arm, his face animated, filled with amusement.

“Better yet, swim trunks.”

“Butt floss swim trunks.” Jace and Bay were both laughing,

clutching at each other when Rue and Liam walked into the kitchen.

“What’s so funny?” Rue asked as he slid into a chair across from

Jace and Bay. Liam sat down next to him.

It took Jace a moment to stop laughing so that he could reply to

Rue’s question. “We were just discussing the work uniform for the
guys when they came to help us with all the heavy lifting and
packing.”

“Jock straps,” Rue replied without missing a beat, sending both

Jace and Bay back into fits of laughter. Liam just sat there with a very
confused frown on his face.

“So.” Rue’s expression turned serious. “We’re all in agreement

then? We’re packing up and moving here?”

“Stefan said they would design us an office attached to the house

anyway we want it,” Bay said. “We work from home anyway so
having an office to work out of would kind of be a step up.”

“I’m not leaving,” Liam said. “I’m never leaving.”
Jace’s eyebrows rose. “Not even to go home and pack?”
“No.” Liam’s lower lip slid out in the cutest pout. “Yuri likes me.”
Jace couldn’t help but smile. Liam was the shyest of them all. He

didn’t make friends outside of the four of them. Jace was pretty sure
the man had been a virgin before Yuri. While he usually would have

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

worried about Liam falling for the first guy to screw him, Yuri
seemed devoted to Liam.

“You could bring Yuri with you, you know.” Jace knew that

Liam hadn’t considered that before now when the man’s face lit
up. “We’re going to need all of the muscle we can get to help lift
stuff.”

“I’ll go if Yuri goes.”
God love Liam, he was glued to Yuri’s side.
“Okay then.” Jace took another sip of his coffee. “So, we—”
Jace’s words were cut off by the shattering of the front

window. Bay and Rue were the first to their feet, running toward
the living room. Jace and Liam followed, reaching the large room
just as it began to fill with smoke. As they stood there trying to
figure out what was going on, a silver canister leaking smoke
came flying through the window.

Jace rolled his eyes and pick the canister up, tossing it right

back out the window. “Tear gas? Really?”

Rue grabbed the other canister and tossed it out the window

just as Jace had. “What freaking idiots.”

Even Liam rolled his eyes.
“It’s that Ezra guy,” Bay said as he stood by the wall and

peeked out through the broken glass. “He has friends with him
this time.”

“How many, Bay?” Rue asked.
“I count about seven out front, but I can see at least four going

around the side of the house.”

“We should probably call Mikhail and the others and let them

know what’s going on.” Jace pulled his cell phone out and dialed
the number Mikhail had programmed into his phone days ago. He
understood that Mikhail and his brothers had a job to do just as
much as anyone else, but maybe one of them should have stayed
home until this Ezra business was settled. Jace promised himself

Stormy Glenn

he’d feed Mikhail his head over that one later. Right now, he had
bigger things to worry about.

“Hello?”
“Hey, babe,” Jace said calmly, “just thought you’d like to know

that Ezra and his boys are back. They are currently tossing tear gas
canisters through the front window.”

“What?” Mikhail shouted. “Get the hell out of there!”
“Oh please. We’ve been to more gay rights protests than I have

shoes in my closet. Tear gas doesn’t bother us.”

He laughed when Rue shrugged and said, “Makes my mascara

run.”

“I’m not leaving.” Liam blinked rapidly as he crossed his arms.

His eyes reddened around the rims, a few tears streaking down his
cheeks. He was a little less used to tear gas than the rest of them.
“And they can’t make me.”

Jace knew Liam was the least able to fight out of the four of them.

He had just a little more experience than Liam, but just enough not to
have his head handed to him—most times. Bay could hold his own in
a fight, and Rue could pretty much wipe the floor with anyone that
attacked him. Just because they had been taught to try and defuse a
situation before it got to the point of throwing fists did not mean they
didn’t know how to fight. They just preferred not to.

And they had been known to have their heads handed to them

when attacked by more than one jackass.

They needed a plan.
He held his cell phone out. “Liam, take this and go upstairs. I need

you to keep Mikhail informed of what is going on and the second
floor window at the front of the house is your best spot for watching
the show.” He shook a finger at Liam after the man took his phone.
“Lock the door after you.”

Liam nodded and hurried from the room. A moment later, Jace

hard his light footsteps running up the stairs and then the sound of a
door slamming.

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

“Rue, do you have your knives?”
Rue’s head cocked to one side, and the man just smirked. Jace

waved a hand. “Forget I asked.” Where Rue put the deadly
weapons, Jace had no idea, but he always had them when he was
dressed. It was just too bad he didn’t have hidey holes in his
pajamas or Stefan might not have been shot before. “Bay, let’s
raid the kitchen. I’m sure we can find something in there to defend
ourselves.”

Bay just stood there, staring. “Am I the only one here that

understands that we are being attacked by a bunch of people that
can shift into tigers?”

“No, I got it,” Jace replied. “I just don’t care.”
“They can kill us,” Bay insisted.
Jace waved his hand back toward the shattered front window.

“They are no different than the bigots back home that call us
names and try to beat us up when we walk down the street
because we have more fashion sense then they do. I, for one,
refuse to allow them to make me leave, especially now that I’ve
found someone that loves me just as much as I love him.”

Bay’s eyebrows rose in a single line. “You’re in love with

Mikhail?”

“Yes.” He frowned as he looked at the flush on Bay’s face.

“Are you in love with Stefan?”

The red on Bay’s face deepened, moving down beneath his

collar. If Jace continued this line of questioning, the blush would
probably go right down to Bay’s toes. “Maybe.”

“Okay, maybe is a start, but wouldn’t you like the chance to

find out if there is something more there?”

Jace knew he had his friend when Bay sighed heavily.

“Fiinne,” he said as he started for the kitchen.

Jace hurried to catch up with him. He stopped in the kitchen

doorway and scanned the room for possible weapons. Of course,

Stormy Glenn

his eyes first fell on the knives in the knife holder. But then he spotted
a nice round cast iron flat skillet.

Perfect.
He grabbed that as well as a few of the sharp knives from the

holder. Walking back into the other room, Jace placed the knives in
several different places where he could grab them if need be—
between two books, behind a vase, under a hand towel.

He held the skillet with both hands and swung it like a baseball.

Grinning, he turned to Bay and Rue. “I’m ready.”

Bay shook his head. “You’re insane, that’s what you are.” He

waved his hand toward the front window. “They have guns and claws
and shit. A cast iron skillet is not going to give you the upper hand.”

“Bay, we have one thing on our side.”
Bay cocked an eyebrow.
“We’re human.”
“And that gives us the upper hand how?”
“They think we’re idiots.”
“You mean we’re not?” Bay scoffed.
Jace knew the man was only trying to point out the holes in Jace’s

plan. Bay liked to look at things from every direction before acting.
Jace tended to just close his eyes and jump.

“They think we’re going to be cowering in the closet frightened

out of our minds. They are not expecting us to fight back.”

Bay’s eyes were wide and round as he nodded. “The closet is

sounding pretty damn good right about now.”

“Bay.”
“Fiinne.” Bay walked over to stand beside the front door, his

rolling pin raised in the air. He was ready to pummel whoever came
through the door.

“I’ve got the hallway,” Jace said as he headed for the bottom of

the stairs. He pressed himself against the wall leading into the kitchen.
Rue had spotted guys going around the side of the house. Jace had no

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

doubt that they would try to come in through the front and the
back of the house.

Rue took up position near the front window. “Here they come,

guys.”

Jace said a quick prayer that he survived this and could see

Mikhail again then raised his skillet into the air and waited. He
heard someone cry out and turned in time to see Rue throwing
knives through the broken window.

The front door opened. The man coming in made it in two

steps before Bay brought his rolling pin down. The guy dropped
like a rock. Bay reached down and tore his facemask off and
tossed it back out the doorway before stepping back into his
original position, rolling pin raised over his head.

Jace’s heart skipped a beat when he heard a noise from the

kitchen. He took a step back and waited. Despite what he had said
to Bay, Jace was terrified out of his mind. They were facing
shifters, deadly shifters that wanted them gone even if they had to
kill them to do it. Jace actually thought the people attacking them
would prefer it if him and his friends were dead.

It wasn’t going to happen if he had anything to do about it.
Jace tightened his grip around the handle of the skillet and

held his breath as a shadow appeared. A moment later, a man with
a gasmask on his face stepped through the archway, gun in his
hand.

Jace swung with all of his might. The edge of the skillet hit the

guy right in the goggle piece of his mask. The man shouted and
dropped his gun as he grabbed for the mask, yanking it off his
head. Blood was pouring down his face from where the broken
goggle piece had sliced into his face.

His eyes were enraged as he turned to glare at Jace. “You—”
Jace brought the skillet up as fast as he could. Pain racked his

hands as the skillet connected with the man’s chin, the sudden

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vibration going all of the way up Jace’s arms. The man didn’t even
cry out before he dropped to the ground.

Jace grabbed the gasmask and tossed it away. If the guy woke up,

Jace wanted him to suffer from the same tear gas he was supposed to
suffer from. He wished he had duct tape.

Jace froze when he heard a low growl from behind him. His heart

pounded so loudly he was sure they could hear it all the way back at
the bar in town. Gripping the skillet in a death grip, Jace slowly
turned.

Damn.
He tried to remember if he wasn’t supposed to run from a tiger or

if that was a bear. His instincts screamed at him to hightail it out of
there just as fast as his feet would carry him. He just didn’t think he
would get very far. He was being stalked by a predator much faster
than him.

“Nice kitty.”

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

Chapter Twelve

Mikhail slammed on the brakes and jumped out of his truck

before it even came to a complete stop. He shifted as he raced
toward the house, intent on killing anything and everything
between him and his mate. No one except those in his immediate
family was safe. At this point, Mikhail didn’t even trust those in
his pride.

Someone was threatening all that he held dear, and that meant

someone was going to die.

He took in the scene in a glance. Liam had informed him of

the three pickup trucks full of men parked out in front of the
house. He didn’t have a total headcount because some of them
men had gone around to the back of the house before Liam could
count them all, but there were more than ten men attacking the
house, some in human form, some in shifted form.

Mikhail jumped onto the back of the first man he reached,

ripping his throat out before the man knew he was being attacked.
Mikhail moved to the next man, catching him just as he was
starting to shift.

He never made it.
Mikhail dropped the man on the ground and stood over his

bloody corpse as he looked for the next one to die. He roared
loudly when he spotted Ezra Craigen sneaking around the side of
the house, and took off after him.

He raced around the side of the house and ran to the back

door. Ezra was standing on the steps leading to the back porch.
Mikhail shifted in a breath and stalked toward the man.

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“Ezra!”
The older man spun around, pointing the gun in his hand at

Mikhail. For a moment, fear showed on his pale face, but then he
grinned as if he truly thought he was going to win this confrontation.

“You’ve gone too far this time, Ezra.”
“I haven’t gone far enough,” Ezra replied. “It won’t be enough

until you and your brothers are dead.”

Mikhail crossed his arms, staring Ezra down. “Do you really think

the rest of the pride will accept you as alpha after what you’ve done
here today?”

“It’s not up to them.”
Mikhail cocked an eyebrow. “I’m sure they would be happy to

learn that.”

He couldn’t believe the gall of Ezra. He didn’t understand that an

alpha’s duty was to his pride, not the other way around. Mikhail and
his brothers kept the peace, enforced the laws laid down by their
elders. They ensured that their pride members were safe and happy.
Ezra just wanted the glory and the power.

Ezra raised the gun in his hand. “They will never hear anything

about this. Once you and your brothers and your little whores are
gone, I can tell them anything I want.”

Mikhail ground his molars together as he raged inside but

remained calm outside. Ezra was finally showing his hand, fully
admitting that he intended to kill Mikhail and his brothers and their
mates. If Mikhail had witnesses, it would be an instant death sentence
for Ezra.

As it was, just Ezra and Mikhail stood there. The battle around

them seemed to have moved to the front of the house. No one saw the
gun Ezra held on Mikhail or heard the man’s traitorous words.

Mikhail tensed as he watched Ezra’s finger tighten on the trigger.

There was too much distance between him and the gun for him to
reach it before Ezra shot him, but he had to try. He refused to give up
without a fight.

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

Hell, for all he knew, Ezra could be a horrible shot.
Ezra pulled the trigger as Mikhail leapt toward him. Mikhail

felt a searing pain in his shoulder as he was thrown back onto the
lawn and knew the man wasn’t a horrible shot but he wasn’t a
great one either.

He had a chance.
Mikhail climbed to his feet, pressing his hand against the

gunshot wound in his shoulder. The bullet had gone straight
through, and strangely enough, Mikhail was grateful for that,
especially since he suspected that Ezra and his boys were still
using silver bullets.

“I find you guilty of treason and attempted murder, Ezra

Craigen. The sentence is death.”

Ezra pulled the trigger again. The shot went wide, just barely

missing Mikhail. It gave him just enough time to jump at Ezra,
shifting as he did. The moment his paws touched flesh, Mikhail
started ripping and tearing with his claws. He heard Ezra’s last
gurgle of breath as the man dropped to the floor of the wooden
porch. Mikhail made a couple of more swipes with his claws to
make sure that the man was dead then padded silently into the
house.

Ezra was dead, but the fight wasn’t over.
Mikhail growled when he spotted a body down on the floor

just outside of the kitchen entrance. All he could see were booted
feet and jeans. But he could smell blood.

Another man appeared in the doorway, crouched over the top

of the body on the floor. Mikhail growled low in his throat as he
stalked closer. The figure froze. Mikhail could hear the man’s
heart thundering.

He growled again.
The man turned…and all of the fight went out of Mikhail.
He shifted. “Jace.”
“Mikhail?”

Stormy Glenn

Mikhail started to step toward his mate when Jace’s eyes suddenly

blazed with fury. His eyes rounded when Jace raised the flat cast iron
skillet. Mikhail knew that they had known each other just a short
time, and they were still working on their relationship, but he thought
they had moved beyond this.

When Jace let loose with the skillet, tossing it across the room,

Mikhail just stood there, shocked that his mate would do such a thing.
It sailed so close to his head that Mikhail felt it brush through the hair
next to his ear. It landed with a thud and a loud scream, followed by
another thud as the man dropped.

Mikhail’s eyebrows shot up when he looked down at the body on

the floor. He didn’t know if Luke Craigen was dead or not, but he had
one hell of a goose egg in the center of his forehead.

“Stupid bigoted asshole!” Jace snapped as he walked over and

kicked the guy in the side. He kicked him again and then leaned down
and picked up the skillet. “Gay does not mean sissy, you jackass!”

“He called you a sissy?”
“No!” Jace’s nostrils were flaring as he turned, his eyes

smoldering with anger. “He assumed because I was gay that I
wouldn’t be able to fight him off. They all did.”

“Uh, sweetie, I think it was because you are human and not

shifter, not because you’re gay.”

Jace’s eyes narrowed. “Same thing.”
Mikhail laughed as he grabbed the skillet out of Jace’s hand and

set it on the counter then pulled the man into his arms. He pressed his
face into Jace’s hair. “I am so glad you are okay, Jace. I would have
died if anything happened to you.”

“I’m fine,” Jace mumbled into Mikhail’s throat. “I’m just pissed.”
“I noticed.” Mikhail chuckled as stared down at the unmoving

body by the door. He hugged Jace to him one more time then let his
mate go. “We need to check on the others and make sure everyone
has been taken care of.”

Jace nodded.

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

Mikhail hurried over to the bottom drawer by the stove and

grabbed the roll of industrial tape he kept in there. He went to
each of the two men down on the floor and taped their hands
behind their backs. If they lived, and woke, he didn’t want them
rejoining the fight.

Once he was done, he took Jace’s hand and guided him out of

the kitchen. Most of the downstairs was clear and unharmed
although there was a faint smell hanging in the air that made
Mikhail’s nose hairs burn and his eyes water.

“God, what is that stench?”
“Tear gas,” Jace said. “I told you they threw that stuff through

the windows.” Jace stopped and leaned down to grab something
off the ground. When he stood, he held out a gasmask. “This will
help.”

“No, it isn’t that bad.” It must have dissipated somewhat.
“Mikhail.”
“Honey, I don’t want to wear a mask in case I have to shift

suddenly. It would hurt a lot and probably destroy the mask.”
Mikhail frowned when he realized Jace wasn’t wearing one. “But
maybe you should use it.”

Jace shrugged. “I don’t need it.”
“Jace—”
“Look, I’m not just another pretty face, Mikhail.”
“I know that.”
“Well, what you don’t know is that back in college, Bay, Rue,

and I got involved with an underground movement to advance gay
rights. It started out simple enough, just carrying signs and
protesting.”

“What happened?” Mikhail just knew something happened.
“An opposing faction started showing up at all of our protests

and getting violent. The riot police were called in more than one
occasion, and we got tear gassed. After the first time it happened,
Bay made us all take a self-defense course that included becoming

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accustomed to tear gas, water cannons, bean bag bullets, and tasers.”

Mikhail’s eyebrows climbed up his forehead. “There’s a course in

this?”

“Well.” Jace grinned. “It was taught by this drag queen that

survived the White Night Riots in San Francisco in 1979. After the
riots, the police raided a gay bar. Several people were beaten and
arrested by the police in riot gear. He decided that he needed to be
prepared for whatever might happen, so he learned a lot and then he
started teaching classes to the LBGTQ community on how to survive
a police raid, a violent protest, or even simple harassment.”

“I don’t get it,” Mikhail said. “If you know all of this, then what

happened when Stefan got shot?”

“The one most important thing I learned from all of the stuff this

guy taught me was that you should always try to diffuse a situation
before it becomes violent. You only fight as a last ditch effort to
defend yourself.”

“Then why didn’t you defend yourself when Peter Craigen

attacked?”

“Well, one, he had a gun, and no amount of fighting skill can save

you from a bullet. And two, if he had pulled the trigger, there was too
much chance of him hitting someone else. I couldn’t take that chance.
My friend taught me that. It’s the same reason Rue didn’t use his
knives. It wasn’t our best option at the time.”

That was actually a pretty good reasoning.
“Sounds to me like this man would have made a good alpha.”
“Oh no.” Jace laughed as he shook his head. “This guy was all

queen.”

Mikhail chuckled as he tossed the gasmask on the table by the

kitchen door and started walking through the house again, dragging
Jace along with him by the hand. He wasn’t going to let go of his
mate unless he absolutely had to.

They found a couple of more unconscious men in the living room

and used the duct tape to tie them up. Mikhail recognized them as

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

some of the more hotheaded members of his pride, and he started
to wonder if he needed to thin the pride out. Not everyone was
going to be happy with every decision he made, but Mikhail
refused to have traitors in his pride. He’d disband the damn thing
before he allowed that to happen.

“We need to check upstairs,” Jace said. “I sent Liam up there

with my cell phone when this all went to shit. I didn’t want him
involved in the fight. He never took those self-defense classes.”

“All right, come on.” Mikhail wanted to check outside and see

what was happening out there, but he could see the desperation in
Jace’s eyes. His mate really needed to check on his friend.

He went first, going quickly and quietly up the stairs. He

paused at the top when he saw three bodies on the floor, two
unconscious but one of them clearly dead. He tied the hands of the
unconscious men behind their backs like he did for the men
downstairs. Mikhail sniffed the air and then followed his nose to
one of the bedrooms that faced the front of the house.

The door was locked.
Mikhail knocked softly. “Liam? It’s Mikhail and Jace.” He

was a little surprised at how fast the door was unlocked and
opened. Liam must have been standing right on the other side.
“Hey, how are you?”

Liam’s bright little smile widened. “I’m good.” When he

stepped back to allow Mikhail and Jace into the room, Mikhail
saw Yuri stretched out on the bed, leaning back against the
headboard. His brother had more than one long, deep scratch on
him, but they all seemed to be healing.

Liam shut the door then hurried right over and climbed up

onto the bed, curling into Yuri’s side.

“Stefan and Zus?” Mikhail asked.
Yuri shook his head. “I haven’t seen them. I came up here

after Liam. I took out the two men in the hallway but got injured
enough that I needed to shift and heal.” Yuri smiled as he glanced

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Stormy Glenn

down at his mate. “Liam got me in here to the bed and then kept
watch over me while I healed.”

Considering their size difference, Mikhail wasn’t sure how Liam

accomplished that, but he was thankful he did. “Thank you, Liam.”

The little man just smiled.
“Can you stand?”
Yuri nodded. “I’m good.”
“I want to go find Zus and Stefan.”
“And Rue and Bay,” Jace added with a huff.
“Of course,” Mikhail said quickly. “I assumed they would be with

their mates.” Or hiding in a closet, but Mikhail wasn’t about to admit
that to his mate, not with the peeved look Jace had on his face.

Yuri climbed from the bed and then reached back for Liam. The

two men followed Mikhail and Jace out of the bedroom. Mikhail
made sure that Jace and Liam were between him and Yuri as they
checked the rest of the rooms on the second floor.

Stefan’s door was locked just like Yuri’s had been. Mikhail

prayed that was a good thing. He knocked lightly and then waited.
“It’s Mikhail.”

The door was unlocked and pulled open, Stefan standing there.

Mikhail scanned his brother from head to toe, checking for injuries.
Except for a long scratch down his cheek, which was already healing,
he seemed fine.

“Bay?”
The corner of Stefan’s mouth kicked up as he stepped back. Bay

sat on the bed behind Stefan. His face was pale and his clothes
disheveled, but he seemed fine. Mikhail couldn’t even detect any
injuries on the human.

“Have either of you seen Zus or Rue?”
“Rue went outside after Zus,” Bay said. His face drained as he

dropped his gaze to his hands. “I was going to go after him but I
needed to find Stefan. I came upstairs to get my car keys and Stefan
was here and…and I just couldn’t—”

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

101

“Bay, it’s okay.” Stefan walked over and sat down on the bed

beside him, grasping his hand. “Mikhail understands.”

“I wish I did,” Bay muttered so low that Mikhail almost didn’t

hear him. He probably wouldn’t have if he hadn’t been watching
the exchange between the two men.

Mikhail’s heart went out to his brother when he saw the

sadness in his eyes. Stefan patted Bay’s hand and then let it go,
standing. Mikhail wanted to growl at Bay for making Stefan feel
such sorrow. Unfortunately, as much as he would like to set Bay
straight, he knew he needed to let the two of them work it out.

Stefan’s smile was forced and wobbly as he faced Mikhail

“Why don’t we go see if we can find them?”

Mikhail ground his teeth together. “Good idea.”
“Stefan,” Bay said when they started for the door, “can I speak

to you for a moment.”

Mikhail paused when Stefan did, staring over his shoulder at

the man still sitting on the edge of Stefan’s king-sized bed. He
grew concerned when Stefan just stood there, staring at Bay
without saying a word. “You need to talk to him, Stefan.”

Stefan’s shoulders slumped, but he nodded. Mikhail waited for

a moment to see if he was still needed, but Stefan just stood there,
Bay sitting on the side of the bed. Both men were silent.

Mikhail patted his brother’s shoulder. “We’ll meet you

downstairs, Stefan.”

Mikhail walked out of his brother’s bedroom, shutting the

door behind him. He didn’t hear any voices start speaking, so
maybe he needed to rethink his decision to stay out of his
brother’s mating. Stefan and Bay weren’t doing a stellar job at
working things out on their own.

Mikhail could only hope things worked out soon. He didn’t

want to think of the heartache his mate and his brother would go
through if Bay decided to stay in the city. It was looking more and
more like Jace and his friends came as a package deal.

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

103

Chapter Thirteen

Jace’s heart slammed in his chest as he stepped out onto the

front porch after Mikhail and saw all of the people out in front of
the house. There had to be at least fifty people standing there.
Some just stood there and stared at Mikhail.

Others were craning their necks trying to get a better look at

Jace. It was creepy and stalkerish and made Jace want to step
behind his mate and hide.

For just that reason, Jace squared his shoulders and stepped up

beside Mikhail. After fighting to stay at Mikhail’s side—and not
die—Jace refused to let a single one of them see just how scared
he was.

Mikhail gave his hand a small squeeze and then stepped to the

edge of the porch. “What’s the meaning of this?”

It was only as one of the crowd stepped forward, his eyes

dropping to something in the yard that Jace realized it was one of
the men that had attacked the house. The guy’s hands were bound
behind his back. His eyes shot daggers at Mikhail. There was no
doubt in Jace’s mind that if the man had been free, he would have
gone for Mikhail’s throat.

“We wanted you to know that we don’t support Ezra or what

he did,” Mike, the man that had stepped forward, said. “We came
just as soon as we learned Ezra and his boys were going to attack
you.”

“We arrived too late to do much good. The fight was pretty

much over by the time we got here,” said another man as he
stepped up next to the first one. “Zus ordered us to tie these guys

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up before he took off around the side of the house to see if there were
any more.”

“There’s a few in the house,” Mikhail said. “What is left of Ezra is

by the back door.”

There were a few gasps from the crowd. Jesse glanced at Mikhail

to see what his reaction was. The man didn’t seem too concerned so
he tried not to be as well, but it wasn’t easy. Jesse didn’t know these
people. He didn’t know who he could trust beyond the three friends
he had arrived with and Mikhail. He was pretty sure he could trust
Mikhail’s brothers as well, but that might take a little longer. He
didn’t know them as well as he knew Mikhail.

“Ezra is dead, Mikhail?”
Jesse couldn’t tell if the guy who spoke was relieved or horrified.
“Him and his boys attacked not only my home but my mate and

the mates of my brothers. He had no reason to do this other than his
own desire to lead this pride.”

Nearly every eye in the crowd turned to look at Jace. It was all he

could do to stand there and not give in to the shaking of his knees. But
Jace wasn’t stupid. He might not know much about this shifter world,
but he had watched enough Animal Planet to know that showing fear
could get him killed.

He also didn’t want to shame Mikhail. Jace understood enough of

what Mikhail had told him to understand that his lover and his
brothers were the leaders of their pride. Having a strong mate was
almost a prerequisite, especially if that mate was human.

The adoration Jace could see shining in Mikhail’s eyes as the

large man turned to him was enough to quell Jace’s fears along with
his worry that he would never fit in as the alpha’s mate. Jace easily
stepped up and took the hand Mikhail held out to him. He curled into
Mikhail’s side and faced the crowd in front of them. Mikhail cared for
him, and that was all he needed to know.

Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace

105

“This is Jace.” Mikhail’s words were filled with pride. He

spoke in a voice that said he had everything he ever wanted
wrapped in his arms. “My forever mate.”

THE END

WWW.STORMYGLENN.COM

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Stormy believes the only thing sexier than a man in cowboy boots

is two or three men in cowboy boots. She also believes in love at first
sight, soul mates, true love, and happy endings. You can usually find
her cuddled in bed with a book in her hand and a puppy in her lap, or
on her laptop, creating the next sexy man for one of her stories.

Stormy welcomes comments from readers. You can find her

website at www.stormyglenn.com.

For all titles by Stormy Glenn, please visit