Marie Harte - Zack and Ace

“Really?” Zack couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“Man, you have no idea how much I looked forward to the heat, when I’d feel you ramming that cock up my ass. It felt so good. You always made me come so hard, and your mouth…”

“Stop.” Zack groaned on a laugh. “I’m too tired to get hard again.”

“Yeah.” Ace exhaled heavily. “I felt weird about loving the mating heat when everybody else hated it. You never said anything, but I knew you didn’t mind it as much.”

Ace paused. “I saw you once kiss a guy.”

“I know.”

“And then we met Kelly, and I fell hard in love. But I still had feelings for you, and it confused the shit out of me. It took a long time, but after this last fiasco, I realized I could have died without ever experiencing us. I love you, man.” Ace sounded emotional, and Zack knew just what to say.

“Now who’s the girl?” he teased.

Ace rolled over on top of him and grinned, wiping away a tear. “You are, you pussy.”

He kissed Zack hard and hugged him tight. “God, the guys are going to ride me for this, I know it.”

“No one’s riding you but me,” Zack said gruffly and shoved Ace over onto the bed. He turned on his side and caressed him, unable to stop touching his best friend, his lover, his mate.

They lay peacefully for a moment before Ace spoke again. “So what did I do to fuck things up? Tell me, because I honestly don’t know.”

Zack felt like an idiot. “Ah, well, I might have been overly sensitive. If you call me a girl again, I’m going to knee you in the balls.”

“Sorry about that.” Ace had the grace to wince.

“Yeah, well, it’s okay now. Just don’t do it again. It hurt like hell.”

“Agreed.”

“Remember last week when we first took Kelly together? You were in some postorgasmic bliss when you told her how you thought of her during the mating heat. I don’t know. It just hit me wrong. I mean, whenever we went through it together, my only thought was of you. That you saw her instead of me while I was fucking you hurt.”

Ace blushed. “I, uh, well, it was true, Zack. I just didn’t tell the whole truth. The very first time we went into the mating heat, I did think of Kelly. I wished I could have been fucking a woman instead of going down on a dude. Sue me, but it’s still hard for me to acknowledge to others that I’m in love with a man. And that’s after years of animal sex.

You’d think I’d be used to it by now.”

“Oh.” Disappointed but not surprised, Zack tried to ignore the mixed signals and focus on the fact that Ace loved him.

“No, hear me out.” Ace took Zack’s cheeks in his palms to force eye contact. “I love you, Zachary English. The very first time we fucked, I tried to think about Kelly. I admit it.

But it was you who took me. You who showed me how right we could be together. We both love Kelly. I know you want her as much as I do. But this thing between us, it’s real. And it’s not going away.”

Zack warmed, falling in love with Ace all over again. “So you’re saying you love me, but you don’t want me giving you a handjob in front of the guys, right?”

Horror shone in Ace’s eyes. “Hell, no.” He narrowed his gaze. “Asshole. I’ll show you a handjob.”

Zack groaned. “Not now. Give me a break before my dick falls off. I didn’t know I could still harness that kind of sexual energy when not changed.” He sucked in a breath as Ace masturbated him. “Only you and Kelly can get to me like this.”

Ace smirked. “I know.”

“But remember, my beast won’t forget it. I’m still the dominant one in our relationship.” Zack tried to sound forceful, but he knew the moan that left him hurt his authority.

“That’s right, Z. Tell yourself you’re in charge while you come all over my hand.” Ace leaned in to nip Zack’s ear as he whispered, “Do you know how good you taste? How great you feel with that fat cock rammed up my ass?”

Zack strove for control but could only promise payback.

“I’m looking forward to it, lover.” Ace licked his lips. “I can’t get enough of that mouth of yours. Now come over my hands and let me taste you again.”

“I love you.”

“Back at you, control freak. Now, come hard.” Ace winked as Zack lost it. “Wait until I tell Kelly what she missed.”

“My money’s on Zack,” Derrick said as he put a ten on the table. “Any takers?”

“Gimme a break,” Kelly muttered. Her dinner with the others had gone well toward restoring her faith in her mates. The guys stuck up for the pair, but Caitlyn spared Zack and Ace little sympathy, or privacy, as she paraded their feelings in front of the others.

“Seriously,” she said. “How could the rest of you not see how much Ace and Zack complement one another? Or do the rest of you have that guy/guy problem too? Like, if you love another guy, you’re automatically gay. As if there’s something wrong with that.”

“Caitlyn, enough.” Roane’s face turned bright red. Hale and Derrick avoided eye contact as well, and Kelly thought it was because they had been with each other sexually and didn’t want to talk about it. Talk about some guy/guy problems.

Caitlyn laughed. “Come on, Kelly. Tell them how sexy it is watching two hot guys like Ace and Zack going at it.”

“Hot guys?” Roane repeated, his voice menacing.

“Shut up, already, Caitlyn.” Derrick grimaced. “Roane, seriously. You need better control over your woman. Who wears the pants in your relationship, anyway?”

“We both wear pants. Really, Derrick. In this day and age…” Caitlyn’s voice grew louder as her rant continued. Poor Derrick took Caitlyn’s tongue-lashing like a champ. He rolled his eyes at Hale and Kelly, but Caitlyn saw it and verbally tore him to shreds.

“A true sacrifice. His ears for our sanity,” Hale murmured with a grin.

“Thank God.” Kelly agreed. She loved Caitlyn and the others like family, but there was such a thing as too much sharing. The guys obviously felt the same.

“Save me from a sharp-tongued Circ,” Roane said under his breath. “Okay, that’s enough, you little witch.”

“Little witch?” Caitlyn ceased berating Derrick and turned on her mate. Her eyes changed first, then her hands.

“Damn, now that’s hot,” Hale said.

Roane must have agreed, because he stood, swung Caitlyn over his shoulder, and left the table in a rush.

“Another ten says she’s purring the next time we see her,” Derrick challenged.

“You’re on.” Hale grinned. “Kelly, you want a piece of the action?”

Before she could answer, Diego called her from the study. “Kelly? Phone call.”

Thinking it had to be Ace or Zack, she gratefully left the dining room and closed the study door behind her. She picked up the phone, hoping for good news. “Ace?”

“Kelly Malloy, don’t speak. Listen. We have Ace Two Bears and Zack English. They’re drugged but alive…for now. If you want to see them again, don’t ask for help. Don’t speak to anyone at all. Come alone to Morey’s Pier, where we’ll be waiting for you. If we see anyone following you, your lovers are dead.”

The phone clicked, and Kelly stared in shock at the receiver. It had to be a trap. Not willing to react out of hand, she called her home, but no one picked up.

She needed to tell the others. Her beast roared with denial. Take care of your own mates. Don’t endanger them because you’re too weak-willed to protect what’s yours.

Then again, if she told the others, they’d demand to accompany her, and Ace or Zack might die. She thought quickly. Scribbling a note to Doc, who would probably see it, at the earliest, later tonight, if he stopped by his office to work, she figured she’d have enough time to do what needed to be done.