Freeing Demitri's Wolf

  Out of the cage: Blood might be thicker than water, but sometimes doing what’s best for you means going against your family.

  Demitri Vinetti knows his parents believe his claim that he’s gay is an act of rebellion. But when Demitri scents Kiernan Wabinaw at the diner where he works and the human keeps coming back again and again, he’s certain he’s found his mate, a male mate, proving Fate’s on his side. Getting advice from friends, Demitri digs deep for courage and asks Kiernan on a date.

  Kiernan is shocked and flattered that such a handsome young man would take an interest in him, especially since his forty-fifth birthday is just around the corner. He’s been fantasizing about Demitri since first spotting him at the diner a couple of weeks ago, and he’s happy to take him up on his offer.

  When Kiernan learns that Demitri’s parents beat him for going on a date with him, he discovers protective instincts he’s never known before. But the fact that Demitri’s less than half his age and his parents are abusive is only the first of many shockers. Will Kiernan be able to accept that shifters exist? Or will he chalk Demitri up as too much trouble and run the other way?

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  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Freeing Demitri’s Wolf

  Copyright © 2013 Charlie Richards

  ISBN: 978-1-77111-498-1

  Cover art by Angela Waters

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

  Published by eXtasy Books

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  Freeing Demitri’s Wolf

  Wolves of Stone Ridge: Book Seventeen

  By

  Charlie Richards

  To Kevin – Your kind words and friendly support remind me why I started writing in the first place.

  Chapter One

  Kiernan Wabinaw pretended to read his menu. Instead, his stared over the rim of his reading glasses, and the cardboard square listing the food selections, and watched his young waiter. He imagined the slender man had toned, lean muscle—maybe from running—and a six-pack hidden under the white button-downed top and apron. Maybe he— Demitri, the nametag read—swung Kiernan’s way. Except, why would a young man as handsome, beautiful, and sensual as Demitri want a middle aged construction worker like Kiernan?

  And why the hell do I find the light touch of blush and eye shadow, not to mention the gleam of lip gloss so sexy?

  Forcing his gaze away from his young waiter, and trying not to feel like a total perv, Kiernan half heartily focused on his menu. Because, really, he knew it by heart. Once he’d started coming here nearly three weeks ago, he hadn’t been able to stop. He tried to pretend he kept coming back because of the wonderful omelets, but deep in his heart, Kiernan knew the truth.

  It was a certain waiter with white-blond hair, smooth pale skin and intense jade-colored eyes that kept drawing Kiernan back. Not that he could admit that to anyone but himself.

  Laying his menu on the table, Kiernan decided maybe his daughter was right. He really did need to get laid. Obsessing over a man probably less than half his age couldn’t be good for him. Thinking of getting laid and Demitri in the same thought had a predictable impact on his dick, namely, sprouting wood.

  Kiernan shifted in his seat, always shocked at how quickly he got an erection just from seeing and thinking about the young man. Demitri got him hotter than any person, man or woman, had in the last decade. Dropping his hand under the table, he adjusted himself, the touch on his dick reminded him of last night.

  Flopping onto the couch with a beer, Kiernan clicked the TV on and started channel surfing. While taking a sip of his brew, he spotted a blond on the cover of a magazine sitting on his end table. Immediately, his thoughts turned to Demitri. He groaned and closed his eyes in frustration.

  The young man’s lean form seemed to instantly super-impose itself on the backs of his eyelids. He imagined Demitri standing in his living room, lust gleaming in his green eyes. Slowly, one long-fingered hand slid down his chest, then dipped into the waistband of his jeans.

  Kiernan’s cock had thickened swiftly as his imaginary Demitri had used his thumb, the only finger still visible, to flip open the button on his jeans. With his other hand, he lifted the edge of his shirt. The move showed off a white, soft-looking treasure trail that ran from his belly button to disappear between the V created by the opening in his pants, showing off the top strands of his downy pubic hairs.

  Groaning, Kiernan struggled to breathe.

  The crash of a dish on kitchen linoleum yanked Kiernan out of his memory.

  “Holy shit,” he muttered under his breath. Just the thought of how he’d jacked off to his imaginary Demitri last night had his shaft harder than a rock and guilt flooding his system. He struggled to keep the heat from creeping up his chest to his face.

  Kiernan noticed Demitri looking his way and quickly focused his gaze on his water glass. Grabbing it, he took a deep swallow, trying to soothe his suddenly dry throat. A shadow fell over his table, and Kiernan couldn’t help smiling up at Demitri, enjoying how the young man smiled back at him.

  “Are you ready to order?” Demitri asked him.

  Are you on the menu?

  The man’s voice sounded breathy and soft and went straight to Kiernan’s dick. He really wanted to reach down and adjust himself, again, but knew that would be wholly inappropriate. “Yeah, I think I’ll get the meatloaf sandwich with a loaded baked potato.”

  Demitri nodded. “Anything else to drink?” he asked, nodding toward the glass.

  He shook his head. “No, thank you. The water’s fine.” He racked his brain, trying to figure out what he could say to extend Demitri’s time at his table. “Have you worked here long?”

  That is so lame!

  His cell phone rang, saving him from embarrassing himself further. Kiernan pulled his gaze away from the cute young man and yanked his phone out of his shirt pocket.

  Valerie, his daughter.

  “I’ll get your order put in,” Demitri murmured, slipping away before Kiernan could do more than nod.

  Answering his phone, he greeted, “Hey, sweetie. What’s up?”

  “Hey, Dad,” Valerie greeted. “How are you?”

  “Oh, fine,” Kiernan replied, smiling faintly at her question. He wondered what was up. It wasn’t often his daughter didn’t get right to the point. “Just stopped into the diner for lunch.”

  “Again? Didn’t you get lunch there yesterday?”

  Kiernan grinned. He placed his reading glasses on the table and took a surreptitious glance toward his waiter, who was now making the rounds of his tables with a pitcher of water. “Yeah, it’s close to the job site,” he said, although it wasn’t completely true. The diner had been close to his prior job site, but he’d moved to a new task last week.

  “Dad, you really shouldn’t eat there every day. All that greasy food isn’t good for you. At your age, you
should be watching your diet.”

  Scowling, Kiernan glared at the table. “Valerie, I do. Is there a reason you called? My waiter is bringing my food,”

  he lied. He had no desire for her to remind him of his age, especially since his daughter was twenty-four and most definitely older than the object of his obsession.

  Valerie huffed a sigh, and Kiernan could just imagine her rolling her eyes at him. “Look, I called because I know it’s your birthday this weekend, and I’m not going to be able to get out there,” she admitted. “Can I take you to dinner next week?”

  “Oh, uh, yeah, sweetie. That’s fine. Everything all right?”

  he asked, becoming worried. His daughter lived in Colorado Springs in the dorms of her college. It was several hours away, and he and Valerie made a point of getting together at least once a month. This time, it was supposed to be for his birthday. He was turning forty-five.

  “Yeah, it’s fine,” she assured. “I just have exams next week and…well, I should really focus on studying. It’s a couple of tough classes this go round.”

  His daughter was very ambitious and wanted to be a CPA. It stood to reason she’d want to focus on school. April was a busy time of year for college students. “I understand.

  I’ll see you next weekend,” he said, trying not to let his disappointment show in his voice.

  “Thanks for understanding, Dad.”

  “No, problem, sweetie.”

  After hanging up the phone, Kiernan leaned back in his seat and sighed. He figured he could still go to the gym for his usual Thursday night routine. Accepting a foreman position for a construction company in the small town of Stone Ridge had done a world of good for his income— making it far easier to pay for his daughter’s college courses—but he didn’t get as much exercise as he used to while working as an underling at a larger company in Colorado Springs. He’d turned down multiple promotions over the years simply because he liked the manual labor. His daughter had showed him the ad for this position and urged him to apply, once more pointing out his increasing age.

  Demitri appeared with the pitcher of water and refilled his glass, drawing Kiernan’s attention. Looking up into Demitri’s eyes, Kiernan smiled and nodded his thanks, surreptitiously enjoying the muscles playing under his toned arm as he reached across the table. Demitri smiled back tentatively and, if Kiernan didn’t miss his guess, stared at him from beneath his lashes. It looked flirtatious.

  Could he be just as interested?

  “Hey, Demitri!”

  Demitri straightened and turned toward the jovial call, breaking their stare. Jealousy coursed through Kiernan at the way the young man smiled warmly at the two men coming toward them, which he knew was completely ridiculous.

  Putting the odd reaction aside, Kiernan looked at the pair, impressed with the first guy’s large size and the way he had his arm around the second man. An openly gay couple.

  Interesting.

  He’d heard that a number of gay men made their home in and around Stone Ridge, but most were discreet about it. “Hey, guys,” Demitri greeted. “What are you up to tonight?”

  The second man, a slender dark-haired guy smiled, his lips pressed thin since he kept his teeth hidden, and nodded toward the other man. “Frankie wanted to see a movie, so we thought we’d make a night of it,” he said.

  “Sounds like fun. Grab a booth and I’ll be right there,”

  Demitri said, pointing.

  The big guy, Frankie, grinned and did as instructed quickly, flopping onto the bench seat so hard it made the entire booth shake. The slender guy and Demitri snickered at his antics.

  When Demitri turned back to look at him, for just a second, Kiernan found himself the recipient of the young man’s brilliant smile. His heart felt like it skipped a beat.

  “Sorry about that. I’ll go check on your food now,” Demitri told him, his voice soft, sounding almost like liquid silk.

  “No problem,” Kiernan managed, pleased his voice came out mostly normal. As Demitri walked away, he couldn’t help but check out the sexy young man’s firm round ass.

  Demitri had never been so relieved that the short, pocketed apron was part of his uniform than when Kiernan had started coming to the diner. The first time he’d scented the man, his wolf, which normally lay placid in the back of his mind unless he was getting ready to run with other shifters, had yipped loudly and wanted to tackle the guy and rub their scent all over him, marking Kiernan as their own.

  Never had Demitri needed to force his wolf into submission until that day. With Kiernan returning nearly every day, Demitri knew the human felt their connection too, at least in some unconscious way. Unfortunately, Demitri was woefully inexperienced with any sort of flirting or seduction, and Kiernan was a middle-aged human. He had no idea if the man would take his advances seriously, no matter what his scent told him.

  He also didn’t understand how he could find his mate so early in life. What if he was misunderstanding his body’s urges because he was young and perpetually horny?

  Demitri made his way to Frankie and Vince’s table.

  Frankie, a big wolf shifter, had taught Demitri how to accept his wolf, allowing him to shift faster. At first, he hadn’t known what to think of Frankie’s vampire mate, Vince, and had even been a little scared of him, if he were honest, but after knowing them for a couple of months, he thought the guy was all right.

  They’d given him the courage to go to pack runs without his mother, Rachel, much to the displeasure and yelling of his father, Cooper. Demitri had heard more than an earful from them about how his new friends were a bad influence, but then anyone who encouraged him to embrace his wolf or accepted the fact that he was gay was a bad influence.

  Rachel was a wolf shifter just like him, but over the years, she’d adopted Cooper’s beliefs. Mainly, shifting was unnatural and should be avoided at all costs and being homosexual was an abomination. Demitri had no idea why they’d stayed in Alpha Declan McIntire’s pack when he came out and took a male mate.

  He often entertained the idea of moving out, but he had to make certain he had enough money first. There was no way he wanted to end up cash poor and have to go crawling back to them. That’s why he worked every extra shift at the diner he could.

  “Hey, guys,” he greeted Frankie and Vince quietly, glancing between them. “What movie are you going to see after this?” “Something with explosions,” Frankie replied, grinning.

  Vince gave his lover an indulgent smile, then turned his attention to Demitri. His expression changed to a sly look, and he sniffed discreetly. “We know that’s not for us,” he said, his voice low. Vince glanced at Demitri’s apron covered crotch. “Someone in here you got your eye on?”

  Demitri blushed, and he just knew his fair skin glowed red. He swallowed hard, as his tongue tied in his mouth.

  “Don’t embarrass him,” Frankie scolded, coming to his defense. He whapped his lover lightly on the chest with the back of his hand. To Demitri’s mortification, Frankie continued, “It’s probably the broad-shouldered human two booths over. I can smell his arousal from here.” Frankie grinned up at him and winked. “You two got a thing going on?”

  “No,” he immediately denied. “I—” Demitri glanced around furtively, then lowered his voice further. “I think he’s my mate. He’s been coming here almost every day for the last two and a half weeks.”

  “Hey, that’s great!”

  Frankie responded a little too loudly for Demitri’s liking, and he shushed the other shifter. When the big man’s brows shot up, he realized what he’d done. Demitri had never ordered a more dominant wolf to do anything, even something so small as to lower his voice.

  A shiver of dread passed through his body, and he lowered his gaze submissively. He could feel his wolf cower in the back of his mind. Chairs scraped across the floor.

  Frankie’s big hand landed on the back of his neck. The other man leaned close as he massaged Demitri’s tight tendons.

  “
Calm down, Demitri. We’re in public,” Frankie whispered. “I’d never chastise you, especially for something like that.”

  Demitri nodded, then glancing at Frankie, he saw the shifter’s encouraging smile and returned it with a tentative one of his own. “Sorry. I—I’m not—” Strong? Big?

  Dominant? Demitri wasn’t sure how he wanted to end that sentence.

  Frankie didn’t seem to need him to. He squeezed Demitri’s neck again. “I know. What are you going to do about your smoking hot silver fox over there?” he asked quietly.

  Sighing, Demitri answered honestly, “I have no idea. I’ve never—I’ve never dated anyone before.” He looked into Frankie’s eyes imploringly. “I don’t know what to do.”

  Suddenly, Vince was on Frankie’s other side, pulling him away and urging him back to his seat. “We’re drawing attention,” he whispered by way of explanation. “Take our orders, get us both a soda. While you do that, we’ll come up with an idea or two to get you a date with your man.”

  Demitri nodded, then took their orders and hurried to get their drinks. He’d been drawing a blank about what to do about Kiernan for more than two weeks. It was nice that his friends were willing to give him a hand, because he needed all the help he could get.

  Chapter Two

  Kiernan watched through narrowed eyes as Demitri nodded and headed back toward the kitchen. When the big man, Frankie, had risen and loomed over Demitri, Kiernan had almost stood and approached them. He’d been surprised at his urge to protect the younger man and just barely held himself in check. He’d only ever felt that way about his daughter and wasn’t certain how to assimilate those feelings for a nearly complete stranger.

  Still, Kiernan really wished he could have known what they’d whispered about. One minute, Demitri appeared happy, then tension pulled him tighter than a bowstring, followed by what could only be described as relief. Kiernan hated puzzles, and his responses to Demitri were just that.