Theo leaned against the counter, talking with a few of the mates when he noticed the man who seemed to make him forget his own name sitting at the bar. Theo hadn’t remembered him walking in but could feel the man boring a hole in his back with his eyes.

He talked a few more minutes with Toby and Jasper before excusing himself. He didn’t want to seem desperate, so he grabbed a hand towel, tossed it over his shoulder, and took another patron’s order first. The stall tactics may have been working to delay him rushing over, but they didn’t help his hardened cock or his racing heart.

Finally, after Theo thought enough time had passed, he sauntered over. He was hard-pressed not to look the man straight in his eyes. He knew the stranger would see the longing, and Theo wasn’t going to put himself out there like that again. Once was enough to keep his heart guarded, and he knew this man would steal his heart if he allowed him.

“Michelob?” Theo asked with a steady voice.

The stranger’s sexy-as-sin lips pulled back into a smile that Theo could only describe as wicked. He nodded his head as his eyes openly assessed Theo’s body. He could feel his body flush at the blatant perusal.

Theo grabbed the beer, popping the cap and setting it on the counter. “Name’s Theo.” He didn’t dare hold his hand out for a shake. Theo feared touching the man and losing control.

The man gave Theo a low and erotic chuckle as he lifted the beer from the counter. “I know who you are.”
Right. It’s not like his name wasn’t over the door. Theo felt kind of foolish as he stood there for a moment with a blank mind.
“I am Nazaryth,” the man said as he slid his hand across the bar, palm up.

Theo wasn’t so sure he should take the man’s hand. His gut told him to run as far away from Nazaryth as possible. Against his better judgment, Theo slid his hand into the stranger’s and gasped as images assailed him.
The stranger leaned in closely, pressing his lips to Theo’s ear. “I am the leader of the Winged Beasts of Zanthar, and you, Theo, are my mate.”

Theo pulled his hand back, his head snapping around to see if anyone had witnessed the exchange. No one seemed to be paying them any attention, but Theo felt as though the whole room was watching him. He stared into the man’s dark eyes, wondering if the guy had lost his mind.

To hear the word mate again was a blow to his mind. He never thought to hear the word again applied to him. After his mate’s senseless murder it had taken ten years for Theo to get past his mourning, another five for the numbness to finally wear off to where Theo actually cared about another being. He had finally taken joy in life, if only day-to-day.

Now this man sat here and claimed to be Theo’s mate?

“You have the wrong person, buddy,” he snarled as he grabbed the hand towel and slung it over his shoulder, angered that anyone would put such a claim to him. “I don’t care who you claim to be. You’re not my mate. He died a long time ago.”

“I am aware of Dorian,” the man spoke low, his voice a touch gravelly as sympathy shimmered in his eyes. Theo didn’t want sympathy from this handsome stranger. He wanted to be left alone. The longer he thought about it, the more pissed he became that this man would even speak Dorian’s name.

Theo spun around, glaring at the man sitting at the bar in his tavern claiming to know his long dead mate. His Dorian. “Get out.”

The man pushed away from the bar, giving Theo a slight but arrogant nod. “I’ll go. But rest assured, I’ll be back.”

Of that, Theo had no doubt. The man seemed inflated enough to do just that. Theo watched Nazaryth walk out of the front door, a sense of loss immediately following the man’s departure. It was insane that he would feel anything other than lust toward the guy. Nazaryth was not his mate. There was no pull, nothing to indicate otherwise. So why was he wanting to run after the man? Theo wasn’t sure. There should be no sense of loss in him.

There was only a hard cock and horniness. As it should be. No, Theo was imagining the need to make the man come back.

The guy was off his fucking rocker. Theo glared at the man’s broad shoulders as Nazaryth left his tavern. How did Nazaryth even know about Dorian? He hadn’t spoken his deceased mate’s name aloud in almost a decade, and only in the darkest of night when he was alone. Theo had never told anyone Dorian’s name, not even when he was mourning his loss. It had hurt too badly to say the man’s name.

Even thinking about Dorian right now hurt like a bitch. His stomach instantly tied into knots, and Theo was on the verge of tears. He cleared his throat as his eyes scanned the tavern, wondering if a day would ever come when he could think of his mate without pain.

No, Nazaryth was not his mate and would never be. That part of his heart was dead, along with his mate, and no other would ever claim it. There was definitely an attraction, a strong one to that hot ass man, but it wasn’t a pull. Theo had been mated already. There was no second time around.

“You okay?” Torem asked as he took a seat.

Theo watched the door for a moment more and then nodded. “Yeah.” He had to shake off the empty feeling. Theo guarded against negative feelings that threatened to send him back into his dark depression.

“The amber coloring has come back,” he said with a smile. Theo noticed the change of subject and let it go for now.

“What do you mean?” he asked as he finished off his broth.

“Your eyes,” Nazaryth said as he reached up and ran the tips of his fingers over Theo’s cheeks. “Your eyes had changed to black rimmed in red. I was afraid I’d never see your beautiful golden-amber eyes again.”

Theo batted his lashes, knowing he had to break the tension in the room. “What, these old eyes?” he teased. “You like them?”

Nazaryth chuckled as he nodded. “That I do. They are beautiful gems.”

Theo placed his hands in his lap, feeling a heated blush creep over his face. “Why thank you, kind sir.”

His mate reached over, taking the tray from Theo’s lap, walking it across the room, and setting it on a table. “You should rest,” he said as he turned back toward Theo. “You’ve been through a great ordeal.”

“I’m rested.” Theo could see the guilt once again in his mate’s eyes. That wouldn’t do. “Now I think I need some loving from my beast.”

Nazaryth’s eyes widened as he stood there. Theo patted the bed as he shifted around to make room for his mate.

“Come over here, and I’ll show you what’s hidden under the blanket.”

The beast shook his head back and forth. Theo could see that Nazaryth wanted him. “You’re weak. You’ve just fought to stay alive.”

“Now I’m fighting to get fucked?” Theo questioned with a snort and then changed his tone to a syrupy sweetness. “You know you want to.”

Theo slid the blanket aside enough to reveal the weeping head of his cock. “I don’t want to rest.” He pouted, his bottom lip sliding out as he ran his fingers through the clear liquid and then pulled the blanket back in place, hiding his erection. “I guess if you don’t want this,” he said and then licked the clear liquid from his fingers.

Nazaryth was at the bed in record time, peeling his clothes off and tossing them aside. His beast slid under the covers, his hot body pressing into Theo’s. “Do you think I would refuse my zaterio?”

“I sure as hell hope not.”

“But you must promise to let me do all of the work.”

Theo was all for that. Whatever it took for his mate to give him some loving. Hell, he’d agree to be tied down just as long as Nazaryth filled him. Theo turned, pressing his chest against Nazaryth’s. “Okay, I’m not moving. Now fuck me.”

Nazaryth grinned as he reached behind Theo and slid a finger up and down his crease. Theo groaned as he pushed back, trying his best to get Nazaryth to impale him.

“You’re not supposed to be moving,” Nazaryth reminded him as he pressed the tip of his finger against Theo’s hole.

“Nazaryth,” Theo begged softly and then cried out his approval when Nazaryth’s finger sunk deep inside of him.

“More, I need more. Please give it to me.”

“You beg so prettily,” Nazaryth crooned as he reached behind Theo and brought back a small glass bottle. Theo could see that it was filled with some sort of oil.

“What about lube?” he asked as he watched Nazaryth remove the glass top.

“This is so much better, zaterio.” Nazaryth dipped his fingers into the jar and then smoothed them around, coating his thick fingers with the oil. “Trust me.”

Theo did trust him as he lifted his leg up, placing it on Nazaryth’s thigh. He bit his lower lip as Nazaryth set the bottle aside and then turned back toward him. “No moving.”

“I promise,” Theo said as Nazaryth’s finger slid inside of him. He wasn’t so sure he could keep that promise. He was unable to resist the demands of his highly aroused body as his back arched and a moan slipped from his lips.

“You don’t listen very well,” Nazaryth softly reprimanded him. “Do I need to stop?”

“You stop and I’ll bite you.” Theo growled out his threat.

“I’m hoping you do that anyway,” Nazaryth said as he grinned. “Now lie still.”

Theo grabbed Nazaryth’s shoulders, trying his best not to move as his mate’s large fingers stretched him. He moaned, biting his bottom lip, suppressing the urge to fuck Nazaryth’s thick fingers.

“Does that feel good, zaterio?” Nazaryth asked as he nipped at Theo’s ear. “Do my fingers please you?”

How in the hell was he supposed to remain still when Nazaryth started talking dirty to him? The man was asking for the impossible right now. If he kept up his naughty words, Theo was going to explode before Nazaryth had a chance to fuck him.

He gasped when Nazaryth rolled Theo to his belly, shoving another finger into his ass as he kissed him down his spine. “Answer me, zaterio.”

“I–I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because if you keep talking that way, game over.”

Nazaryth chuckled against Theo’s skin. “Does it turn you on?”

“Big-time,” he admitted. “So if you want to keep talking dirty then you have to do it while your cock is buried in my ass.”

He heard a loud growl coming from behind him. “It seems I’m not the only one who likes to hear naughty words.”

Theo canted his ass in the air. “Then we can have a full-blown conversation after you slide your dick into me.”

He grinned when he felt Nazaryth move around, and then his cheeks parted, the blunt head of Nazaryth’s cock poking at his hole. “That’s it, beast. Fuck me.”

Nazaryth snarled as he shoved his cock to the root. Theo cried out from the pleasure as he fisted the sheets.

Nazaryth stilled, leaning close to Theo. “Is this what my zaterio wanted?”

“Hell, yeah.”