He just wanted one night where he didn't have to fight his wolf's desire to track down their mate and drag him back to Stone Ridge. One night of peace.
"I want to dance," Dagus announced. Carson cocked his head and rose. "I'll go with you," he volunteered. It beat sitting there with his thoughts and Gordon's concerned looks.
"Me, too," Phillip said. He put down his half-full beer and stood.
Carson knew the plan would be to sandwich their blind friend between them, giving Dagus a sense of security while still having the freedom to dance to the music. After downing the rest of his beer, he followed the pair onto the dance floor. He moved up behind Dagus, met Phillip's look over the shorter man's head and nodded. Then they started to dance.
He settled his hands on Dagus's waist, right below where Phillip held him and began to swing his hips, letting the music move him. Carson took a deep breath, growling in frustration when he smelled the phantom scent of his mate. He decided scenting his mate when he wasn't anywhere in the vicinity and never had been must be similar to people that had lost limbs. There were reports that sometimes they could feel phantom pain in the non-existent limb.
Letting his eyes slide to half-mast, he emptied his mind and let the music take him. He swung his hips in time to the beat, the buzz of alcohol in his veins loosening his limbs.
Three songs later, he felt a pair of strong hands grip his waist and a hard cock press against his ass as a man plastered his body to Carson's backside. He growled low in his throat before turning a glare over his shoulder at whoever interrupted his solace.
His eyes widened in shock. "Jared!" he whispered as his mate's scent enveloped him, making his cock harden and strain against the confines of his jeans.
"Hello, Injun," Jared greeted silkily, right before he gripped Carson's chin and took his mouth in a deep kiss.
He'd never been into public displays of affection, but somehow Carson found himself turning and wrapping one arm around his mate's waist while burying the other in Jared's short, soft hair. They deepened the kiss, their tongues and mouths dueling for dominance. He ground his aching shaft into Jared's, pleased to find the other man just as turned on.
The hoots and whistles from those men dancing around them weren't enough to deter Carson's conquest of his mate's mouth. It wasn't until the lack of oxygen threatened to make him pass out that he broke the kiss. He stared into the dancing hazel eyes of his mate and could think of only one thing.
"How long are you here for?" Carson needed to know how long he had with his mate.
"I'm not going anywhere, Carson," Jared revealed with a smile. "Well, at least not unless we discover other friends to rescue."
"You're not … " Carson paused and glanced over his shoulder to see an amused smirk on Phillip's face and a grin on Dagus's. Evidently the other wolf had told their friend what caused the interruption. "Are you okay without me?"
"Sure. Go sit down," Phillip answered, clearly amused.
Carson pulled his unresisting mate across the floor. "Hey," he heard Jared say, "Isn't that Phillip? I didn't get the impression he swung that way."
Carson shook his head. "He doesn't, but he's quite comfortable with the scene. He told us that he used to go out with Todd when his brother wanted to dance." At Jared's surprised look, Carson laughed, his heart suddenly lighter than it'd been in weeks. "Evidently, Phillip was always extremely over-protective of his older brother. He'd go to keep an eye on things and eventually felt comfortable enough to dance, too. When Todd mated with Lyle, Phillip kinda lost his purpose, you know? So when we rescued Dagus, he just naturally moved his protective instincts to him," he explained. Reaching the table, Carson looked back at the dance floor and shrugged. "Dagus doesn't seem to mind."
"Hey, Jared! Ya made it, man! What do you think of the place?" Grady's words caught Carson's attention and he frowned as he watched Grady slap Jared on the back, a big grin splitting the tiger's features.
Carson glared. "You knew he was coming tonight?" Frustration and betrayal shot through him. He'd thought Grady his friend and all this time the other man had known Jared was returning. Then shame filled him. He'd been the one to refuse to answer Jared's calls for the last week. After six days of not getting any indication from his mate of when he planned to return, he'd let despair take him. Carson had worried that being across the country had put too much distance between him and Jared and his mate had no longer felt the pull to return to him. He'd buried himself in work, exhausting his body so he could sleep at night.
Grady held up his hands in the face of Carson's conflicting emotions. "I wasn't sure if he'd make it in tonight. I let Jared know where we'd be every night this week." The big tiger fisted his hands and settled them on his hips. "It's a full time job keeping you busy at night so you didn't drive yourself nuts," he pointed out.
At Jared's questioning look, Carson blushed. "Oh, Injun," Jared whispered. "I'm so sorry I caused you pain."
Carson shook his head. "I should have trusted you when you said you'd return, but every time we spoke and you never said anything about coming back, it hurt," he admitted bowing his head. "I hated not knowing when I'd see you again."
"You won't have to worry about that ever again," Jared vowed. The smaller man wrapped his arms around Carson, buried his hands in his hair and pulled his head down for another kiss, this one deep and thorough, full of promise.
Jared licked his bottom lip, asking for entry, which Carson immediately gave. Their tongues tangled in slow caresses, sending shocks of pleasure down his spine to settle in his balls. He could feel them pull tight to his body as precum oozed from his dick, soaking the fabric of his jeans.
He broke the kiss and rested his forehead against his mate's. "We keep that up and I'm going to come in my pants," he whispered.
Grinning, Jared winked. "Can't have that, can we." Jared pushed him into the booth across from Gordon and Grady, where he proceeded to settle his near arm on Carson's thigh as he leaned on the table with his other arm. It effectively blocked the view of anything below Carson's chest, which Jared quickly took advantage of by sliding his hand up and cupping Carson's cock through his jeans.
Carson hissed through his teeth, his eyes widening in surprise as pleasure shot like liquid fire through his veins. His hips jerked in an effort to get more pressure on his cock and Jared chuckled, grinning evilly as he massaged him. His breathing picked up and he struggled to still his body.
"We're going to go dance a couple songs while you two get reacquainted," Grady said with a laugh. The pair disappeared amongst the throng of dancers.
Jared leered at Carson. "I've been meaning to ask. Do you want me to move in with you or should we buy a house together?"
"Uh," Carson had trouble focusing on his mate's words, since Jared's hand under the table was unbuttoning his jeans and carefully lowering the zipper. "We'll have to see what's on the market."
"We could do that," Jared replied, nodding. A wicked grin lit his features as he slid his hand beneath the fabric of Carson's boxers and maneuvered his dick through the hole. The warm air of the club caressed his heated skin and Jared took his engorged cock in a firm hold and stroked it. "You're right. This would definitely be a problem for dancing," he commented. He leaned close and brushed a soft kiss against Carson's lips. "And I do plan to dance with you, Injun. I'm going to plaster my body to yours and grind my cock against your thigh. I'll let you feel how hard I am, how excited I am for you to take me home and fill my ass," he whispered.
The picture his mate's words created had a whimper of need escaping Carson's lips. It'd been too long since he'd been with his mate and the scent of Jared's desire had his balls pulling tight against him. Jared swiped his thumb over the head of Carson's shaft before pressing it into his slit, sending sparks down his shaft.
"So close," Carson panted. No longer able to control his hips, he thrust up into Jared's firm grip, unable to get enough of his mate's touch.