Isaiah (11 page)

His jaws ached from clenching them against the need to bite, but even driven as he was to the brink of lust, Bae remembered his promise to himself. He wouldn’t mark Isaiah again, but oh, he longed to!

Isaiah keened suddenly and his ass clamped down tight around Bae’s cock, trapping him deep inside Isaiah’s sweet heat. Isaiah stilled beneath him, then shook from head to toe as he climaxed. The tangy scent of cum was the trigger the set off Bae’s orgasm, his balls pulsing, sending spunk up to his dick. Bae shouted with each jet that he sprayed into Isaiah’s www.total-e-bound.com

ISAIAH

Bailey Bradford

67

ass, and when he finally stopped, he’d bitten his cheek severely enough that blood had pooled in his mouth.

“God, Bae, tell me we can do that again soon.”

Bae opened an eye he hadn’t realised was closed. Isaiah wasn’t looking at him, was staring off in a daze, but he was the most gorgeous sight Bae had ever seen. “Guess that means you liked it.”

“Please, honey, as if it wasn’t really obvious,” Isaiah said and Bae shook his head to try to clear it.

“Just try to stop me,” he teased, while mentally reassuring Isaiah that he would indeed stop of ever Isaiah asked.

Isaiah nudged him gently and Bae rolled off him to lie on his side. Isaiah turned over and faced him. “That could be fun.”

Bae frowned, feeling the line crinkle his forehead. “What could be fun?”

Isaiah grinned goofily. “A little role play. Maybe something along the line of dubious consent. I’d like to be held down, or tied down, and have you fucking me while I protested until I saw that monster cock of yours. Then I’d beg you to use it on me.”

Bae snickered so hard it burned his nose. When he stopped he swiped at his eyes and grinned at Isaiah. “I don’t know if I can do the role play stuff. I’ll probably lose my shit and start laughing like I just did.”

Isaiah waved a hand in the air. “Dunno if I can do it either, but if you ever want to try, we should. Doesn’t have to be that scenario.”

“What other roles do you have in mind?” Bae asked.

Isaiah ran a finger down Bae’s chest. “Well, you’d look lovely in a dress and heels, or maybe a bustier and some of those short-looking underwear women wear. Or hell, a thong, aw man…” He fisted his hand against Bae’s sternum.

It took a second or two for Bae to react. The idea had some merit, but why did he have to be the one dressing up? “You can wear the dress and heels, and I can paddle your ass.”

Isaiah pursed his lips, setting a fine wrinkle off over the bridge of his nose. “Look how big I am. Do you really think we can find something sexy like that for me?”

Bae nodded. “Yes, I do. The Internet is an amazing thing. I bet there are all sorts of fetish shopping sites online—and we’ll have fun looking for them.”

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ISAIAH

Bailey Bradford

68

Saturday morning, Isaiah woke earlier than usual, pleasantly sore in very interesting places. He opened his eyes to find Bae staring up at him, his head on Isaiah’s chest. “Looks uncomfortable.” Like Bae was going to get a crick in his neck.

“It kind of is,” Bae admitted before scooting up to lie on Isaiah fully. “But now you’re awake so I can do this.” He rutted against Isaiah, bringing his cock to life. In minutes they were both sweaty from exertion and grunting as their releases seeped between them.

“Now I need a nap,” Isaiah mumbled, sleep pressing down on him hard. The next time he woke, Bae was asleep on him, drooling over his shoulder. Isaiah wished he could take a picture of them, or at least of Bae. He’d have fun teasing him about slobbering in his sleep.

“Jerk.” Bae rolled off him and they both yelped, Isaiah louder than Bae because he was pretty sure he was going to be missing some body hair in chunks. “Shit. Forgot we didn’t clean up after our frot.”

“S’okay. It was worth it.” Isaiah sat up. “I’ve gotta pee then I’ll get some coffee started.”

“Just hit start. I made it last night and set the timer.”

“‘Kay.” Isaiah stood and stretched, knowing full well he was sticking his butt out, but he also knew Bae was enjoying the view. “Be back in a few minutes.” He trotted to the bathroom where he relieved himself then washed his hands. He grabbed his toothbrush and squeezed some paste onto it then stuck the toothbrush in his mouth.

“All yourth,” he said as he walked out of the bathroom.

Bae chuckled and got up. He looked so rumpled and warm Isaiah just wanted to snuggle back into the bed with him. “Shoo,” Bae said. “My bladder’s throbbing and it tastes like something died in my mouth. Gross.”

Isaiah curled a lip at him and tapped his toothbrush. He headed into the kitchen and pushed the on button on the coffee maker, then wandered over to the pull the trash can out from under the kitchen sink. After a vigorous brushing, because Bae wasn’t the only one with www.total-e-bound.com

ISAIAH

Bailey Bradford

69

God-awful morning breath, Isaiah spat in the trash can. He ran his tongue around his teeth, checking for any missed spots.

Satisfied he’d offed all the bad breath germs, he grabbed a paper towel and wiped his face. He sat the napkin on the counter to put his toothbrush on then put the trash can back where it belonged. By the time Bae came into the kitchen, Isaiah had toast on the table and the coffee was made.

“Feel better?” he asked as he handed Bae a cup of coffee. Bae had showered and Isaiah wanted to get him all dirty again.

“Don’t you dare,” Bae warned, pausing with his cup right beneath his nose. “That’d be cruel to do to me, making me put down my coffee. I’d rather have you, true, but I don’t see why I can’t have you and my coffee, too.”

“You can.” Isaiah gestured at the table. “Eat some toast. I even dug out the good jellies.”

The good jellies were the homemade ones Bae’s mother had sent home with him.

Blueberry, blackberry, and strawberry—Bae could survive on just jelly if he had to. His mom made the best, too.

“She does,” Isaiah agreed as he slathered a piece of toast with blackberry jelly. “Do you have her recipe?”

Bae shook his head as he took a bite. He sighed happily when he swallowed, then answered Isaiah’s question. “Nuh uh. I can probably get it. Who’s going to make it? I burn water.”

Isaiah finished off his first piece of toast and reached for a second. Maybe he’d mix up the flavours like Bae had. “Me. I can cook, remember?”

“Yes, but making jelly and jams and stuff is different.” Bae furrowed his brow as he stared at the jars of jelly. “I remember a lot of pots, and weird ones at that, with things on the top of them.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I think I could make this stuff. I like learning how to cook new things.” Isaiah settled on blackberry and strawberry. The blackberry was his favourite. It’d be great on pancakes, or just about anything, as far as he was concerned. He eyed Bae unobtrusively.

“Don’t even think about it anymore than you already have,” Bae told him. “We’re not using these jellies as
that
kind of jelly. Or as any kind of sex…toy, prop, whatever.”

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ISAIAH

Bailey Bradford

70

“I just wanted to lick it off your dick,” Isaiah said, thumping Bae on the back when he started coughing. “Careful there or I’ll have to get up and give you the Heimlich manoeuvre.”

“Don’t you dare,” Bae wheezed. “Gah, the ideas you have.”

Isaiah decided that was a compliment. And Bae needed teasing, he was so worried about the meeting with his father. Isaiah made sure he had Bae’s undivided attention, then he licked the spoon he’d used to scoop out the fruit spread. “Mmm. It’d be better if I was licking it off your skin.”

Bae looked a little dazed, his gaze on Isaiah’s lips. Isaiah grinned and went about eating his toast. “That was just cruel.” Bae wadded up a napkin and tossed it at him. “You’ll have to make up for teasing me.”

“I’m planning on it. I never did get to fuck you last night.” But he would tonight. He’d make sure Bae was so thoroughly sated he couldn’t stress about anything. Changing tactics, and hoping to keep Bae from going back to the worst case scenarios Isaiah was sure he was imagining for the upcoming meeting, Isaiah brought up something he’d been meaning to discuss with Bae. “So, my family has this annual reunion in the summer.” He gave Bae his brightest smile. “I was hoping you could take off a few days and go with me. We could head out after your class Thursday, go spend the weekend with everyone. It’s not too far away, just right outside of Holton.”

“Uh.” Bae blinked, turning to stare out of the small kitchen window. “I guess? I’d have to check my schedule—”

“It starts in three weeks, and runs from Sunday through the following Sunday, but we don’t have to go to the whole thing. I don’t want to skip a class at The Heart so early into volunteering there, and I don’t want to ask you to skip yours, either. I’d really love to have you with me, though.” Isaiah took a deep breath and looked at Bae. “They aren’t bad, not like—” he stopped himself but not in time. Bae’s pinched expression made it clear he knew where Isaiah had been going with his abandoned statement.

“Not like my family,” he said tonelessly. “I’ve given you the impression they’re all monsters, haven’t I? But they aren’t. Misguided, wrong, whatever, but they live as they have for decades, maybe longer. It’s all they know, but it isn’t all they
are
.”

www.total-e-bound.com

ISAIAH

Bailey Bradford

71

“I’m sorry.” Isaiah thought he understood. It was hard not to judge them just by the way they were hurting Bae, or by their…breeding standards, but Isaiah knew most people weren’t all good or all evil. And ignorance was a dangerous thing. That might be the case with Bae’s family and his lepe. “I am sorry, I’m not just saying that.” He kept himself open, wanting Bae to feel his sincerity. “It’s hard for me to understand. Maybe meeting your father, your family, today will help me with that. And you meeting my family will maybe explain why I’m having a hard time wrapping my mind around the whole forced-breeding thing.”

Bae opened his mouth to argue, Isaiah saw it in his eyes. As suddenly as he puffed up, Bae slumped in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. “I can’t argue with you calling it forced-breeding. It makes me feel disloyal to my family, my lepe, but it isn’t exactly an untruth. I do know everyone who has done it, everyone I’m aware of at least, did so without argument.”

But was that brainwashing or true concern for their species? Isaiah wasn’t going to ask and he buried the thought deeply. He didn’t want to upset Bae again. “How about a nap after we finish eating? What time do we need to leave?”

“Not for three or four hours at the earliest. It’s not far mileage wise, but it takes a couple of hours since we have to drive up into the mountains.”

“Then we have time to crawl back into bed.” Isaiah waggled his eyebrows at Bae, willing him to relax for a little while longer. He couldn’t help but worry that if Bae was this stressed now, he’d be almost to his breaking point by the time they met with his father.

* * * *

The drive had been beautiful, but as Isaiah looked around the stark, darkly panelled study they were waiting for Bae’s father in, he wondered if the room didn’t reflect the man who owned it. The house itself was built in the style of a log cabin with a quaint, worn exterior. Inside it was large, sparsely decorated with only a small rug here and there on the hardwood floor and a handful of family portraits on the walls. That was all Isaiah got to see as a young girl—who squealed as soon as she saw Bae—led them to the study.

Isaiah assumed the girl was Bae’s sister, and a mental nudge confirmed it. If the young lady had stopped chattering for half a second, Bae might have had the chance to introduce www.total-e-bound.com

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them. As it was, she’d barely shown them into the room when an older man strode in purposefully.

“Canda, you may leave now. Have your mother prepare tea and have it waiting for us when I call for it.”

Bae stiffened beside him, but Isaiah put his hand on the small of Bae’s back, reassuring them both with the small touch. “Dad.”

The man turned fully towards them and Isaiah’s heart did a slow, melty turnover.

Standing in front of him was almost certainly a perfect example of what Bae would look like in another thirty or forty years. Bae’s father’s features were finely chiselled, his eyes the same warm brown, but there wasn’t a hint of joy in the man’s expression at all as he inspected Isaiah from head to toe.

“So you’re my son’s mate.” He walked around them, leaving Isaiah agog as he was checked over from all angles. “I am Chul Warren, Bae’s father.”

Isaiah shook Chul’s proffered hand. “Isaiah Trujillo.” He wasn’t going to lie and say it was a pleasure when he wasn’t at all certain it would be.

Chul gestured to the uncomfortable looking sofa a few feet away. “Please, sit.”

They did so while Chul sat behind his desk. Isaiah bet it was usually intimidating for whoever was sitting here, watching Chul watch them unblinkingly. Isaiah wasn’t intimidated.

Chul’s lips twitched like he was trying hard not to smile. He cleared his throat and narrowed his eyes at Isaiah. “Bae tells me you are a snow leopard shifter. You are the first I’ve ever encountered.”

“I’d never even heard of an Amur leopard until I met Bae, so I reckon we’re even.” Or not.

“You don’t care for me very much, do you?”

Isaiah hoped Bae would forgive him.
“I’m sorry, honey.”
Bae squeezed his hand in response, and Isaiah found an answer he hadn’t known he had in him. “I don’t know you, so I can’t say for sure. You raised Bae to be a wonderful man, a treasure, to be certain. That means there has to be some good in you. But—” He took a steadying breath, exhaled, and looked Chul straight in the eyes. “I don’t approve of forced mating. Of insisting on breeding to keep a species pure, not when there’s a very large human side to it. We are shifters, yes, www.total-e-bound.com

ISAIAH