Instead of helping him calm down, thinking about it set Jason's blood on fire even more. His body begged for his lover's touch. He jerked impotently on Michel's shoulders. "P-please. I n-need, need you," he admitted.
The low growl that rumbled through Michel's body vibrated through Jason … and his balls. "O-oh!" Jason's cock throbbed and his balls rolled. Michel moved his thigh, pressing it against his erection, giving him delicious pressure, and he came. Waves of pleasure and warmth pulsed through him as his orgasm bowled over him. He twitched and shuddered, this time in bliss. "M-Michel," he slurred, his hand grabbing at his lover spastically.
Michel groaned and jerked above him. Warm fluid oozed over his hip, dripped down his side and over his slowly softening penis.
Jason grinned. His lover had come just from seeing him do so, from holding him, touching him, maybe even smelling him? "So fucking sexy," he mumbled, smiling almost drunkenly up at Michel.
Chuckling, Michel grinned down at him. "Gods above, sweetheart. The things ye have me doin'." He leaned down and nipped Jason's lower lip. "I don't remember the last time I came with nary a touch like that."
Sighing contentedly, Jason reached over and ran his fingertips over the course hair of Michel's thick beard. "You make me feel like that, too."
"Like what?" Michel asked before turning his head and nipping Jason's fingertip.
"Special," Jason admitted. "You make me feel special."
"Ye are special," Michel returned, punctuating his statement with another kiss.
He reached over, grabbed a couple tissues, and cleaned them both up. He tossed them in the garbage can beside the bed, grabbed the quilt, and pulled it up over both of them. Manhandling him gently, Michel spooned up behind Jason's back and held him close.
"So, ye probably have questions," Michel murmured into Jason's ear. "I'll tell ye anything, and probably even more than ye actually want to know."
Jason remained silent for several minutes as he enjoyed the endorphins pinging through him as well as the feel of Michel's arms around him.
Finally, accepting that he couldn't hide from the odd happenings of yesterday forever, he asked, "Who were those men? And what happened to them?"
Michel gently stroked his chest for a few seconds before answering. "Me pack has been fighting Doctor Sampson Marlow for a few years, tracking down his facilities, rescuing shifters. The human believes we're abominations just because we can turn into animals. He's been killing and trapping us, using us for experiments."
Feeling the tension in his lover, Jason grimaced and threaded his fingers through Michel's, trying to soothe him. "He's the leader, right? Does that mean you've stopped him?" he asked, petting Michel's arm-hair with his other hand.
"Aye, we're hoping so," Michel confirmed. "Brett is dead. That was the guy with the glasses. Doctor Marlow is in custody. Declan is arranging to turn him over to the CIA. They want him alive, although I haven't heard why."
"And that weird woman?" Jason pressed, shivering upon remembering the woman's cold, expressionless eyes and blank features.
Michel sighed and nuzzled into his neck, making Jason smile at the sweet move. He liked that his lover took comfort from him. "Her name is Rachel Vinetti. She's a wolf shifter who was once part of our pack. She and her human husband betrayed us, sharing information with Marlow's people." His arms tightened. "They have her on something that controls her wolf. Lark is trying to figure it out, so he can help her."
Jason didn't know if he'd feel generous enough to try to help a human who'd hurt him, but as long as he didn't see her again, he wished that Lark fellow all the best. Knowing there were other things he needed information on, he bit the bullet and asked, "Other than being able to turn into a wolf, how are shifters different from humans? What does it mean that I'm your mate?"
"I'll answer yer second question first," Michel told him. He paused for a few seconds, idly petting Jason's chest, perhaps gathering his thoughts. Finally, he explained, "A shifter is granted by Fate one mate, who calms his restless spirit and fills the missing pieces of his soul. When they find that person, they bond with them-in essence, marriage with no opportunity for divorce."
"Uh, wow." Jason peered over his shoulder at Michel, seeing his serious expression. "And you really think I'm your, uh, mate? How do you tell?"
Michel cupped Jason's jaw and gently rubbed his thumb over his bottom lip. "A shifter knows by scent, and I am certain. I-" He paused and grimaced, guilt flashing across his expression, then revealed, "I'm afraid I've already bonded us, Jason. I-I can't live without ye."
Jason's jaw sagged open in shock at Michel's whispered words. "I, uh. Wow. How?" He stopped, knowing he made no sense.
Staring intently, Michel replied, "A shifter claims their mate by biting them during sex. We share our seed and our saliva. I hadn't intended to bite ye until ye understood, but … " He actually flushed, the blood darkening his already bronzed skin around the edges of his beard. His dark eyes turned nearly black as he swept his gaze over Jason's blanket-covered body. "Fuck, Jason. Ye were so sexy and begged so prettily. When ye asked to be marked, I couldn't control meself."
"Oh!" Jason's blood heated and flowed south responding to not only the feral light in Michel's eyes, but the low way he growled his words. On instinct, Jason pushed closer and, rocking his ass, discovered Michel once more sported an erection.
Rolling over, he pressed his own quickly filling cock against Michel's. He rocked his hips, feeling near desperate for friction. "Fuck. Is that why we can't seem to keep our hands off each other?" Jason mumbled, threading his fingers through the thick chest hair covering most of Michel's chest.
"Exactly," Michel growled, lowering his head and claiming Jason's mouth. He licked his way into Jason's mouth, nipping and tasting, then lightly sucked Jason's bottom lip before releasing it and sighing. "Shite, we really need to talk." He gave Jason a rueful smile. "Mayhap I should leave the bed."
Jason didn't want that, and quickly told Michel so. "I'll be good," he promised.
Michel chuckled. "Right." He still shifted his lower body away from him, which caused Jason to thrust out his lower lip in a pout. Snorting, Michel shook his head. He released Jason and propped his head on his hand, so he could continue to focus on him. To Jason's pleasure, at least his lover still kept one hand on Jason's belly, lightly skimming his fingers over the sensitive skin of his side.
"How about I give ye something else to think about," Michel offered.
Jason bit his lip and nodded. Focusing on something other than the way his cock throbbed, desperate for touch, for relief, even though it hadn't been that long since he'd come, would probably be a good idea. Just the memory made even more blood flow south.
Damn!
As if he could read Jason's mind, Michel smiled knowingly. Fortunately, he started speaking. "I am three hundred seventy-eight years old. I was born in Ireland and have seen many changes take place over the years. On more than one occasion, just like I'm doing now, I have to pull back from society, so humans I know forget about me. After a decade or so of solitude, I'll reenter society with a new identity."
Jason's brows shot up. "Wow! You're almost four hundred years old? How old do shifters live?"
"Me father died nearly seventy years ago at the ripe old age of five hundred twenty-one," Michel told him.
"And your mother?"
Michel smiled faintly. "She died within a week of him. That's the way of shifters and Fated mates."
Cocking his head, Jason frowned. "Wait. If you could live over five hundred years, you have possibly another hundred and fifty years, right?"
"Aye," Michel confirmed.
"But humans don't normally live too much past eighty." Jason nibbled his bottom lip as he worked out his thoughts. "Does that mean by mating with me, you've shortened your lifespan?"