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“CUT!” Brandt yelled. “That was perfect.” “Does everything have to be sperm and dicks?” Hunter asked, unable to contain a snicker. “YES,” basically every crew member answered in unison. “Fair,” Hunter said.
Hunter looked back and forth between Brandt and Richard before the realization clicked. “Oh. Am I going to have to act as a fluffer for my own scene? I didn’t even think fluffers were a real thing.”
“Is it weird that Richard cooks?” he asked. “Do wolf shifters not normally cook?” Chance hit pause, whipping his head around to look at him. “You’ve got a wolf shifter cooking for you?” “Why do people keep acting like that’s strange?” “Do you not know that food is a big deal for wolf shifters?”
“And why does everyone assume I know anything about this shit? I didn’t even know it existed two years ago.” “Probably because you mainline games made for the supernatural community and take supernatural dick like a champ?” “Ah, yes. That famous conveyor of knowledge. Dick.” “Supernatural dick.”
Because sucking you off will lead to enlightenment.” “It’s definitely made...
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“You’re being ridiculous. He isn’t providing for me.” Chance raised an eyebrow at him. “Is he taking care of you in any other way?” “No, of course n—” Hunter cut himself off. “Well, I mean, after our scenes, he’s helped me get back to the apartment. But considering he fucks me until my brain and bones are liquefied, that’s just a professional courtesy.”
“Richard Knotz doesn’t do professional courtesies. When the scene is done, he’s done. Everyone knows that.” “I thought that too, at first, but he’s not like that at all.” “With you, maybe.”
“It’s a group scene. Some bullshit about me being captured by an alpha who then shares me with his pack. They fuck me before he knots me.” “Jesus fucking Christ.” Chance slapped a hand to his face. “It’s a dumb concept, but it’s far from the stupidest thing MateHub has come up with.” “No. That Jesus fucking Christ wasn’t for the concept. I’ve seen those scenes before. They’re moving it because they’re worried he’ll literally kill whoever was unlucky enough to agree to star in that scene with you two.” Hunter started laughing, then realized Chance wasn’t. “Oh. You’re serious.”
When Chance showed me MateHub, the first video I watched was this cheesy scenario where Hardin’s in a coffee shop and smells his fated mate. They claim each other right there while everyone sips their drinks, like seeing people fuck and bond is a daily occurrence in their world. It was called Taking My Mate the Way I Take My Coffee: Hot and with Extra Cream. I’m assuming they were faking the knotting, since there was no close-up, but I couldn’t walk into a coffee shop for a year after that without getting hard, imagining him coming in and immediately bending me over the table of some poor grad
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Anyway, when I tried to convince Chance to come over, he said he’d rather get DP’d by two massive bear shifters than be in a room with three wolves. Which seems a little extreme given the size of some of MateHub’s bears. I mean, Two Bears, One Cub was hot, but damn, just watching it had me walking funny for days. But to each their own.”
“Making animals fight is unethical.” Richard’s expression was clearly judging Hunter’s entertainment choices. “Oh my god. You’re such a softy. I thought you were some complete unfeeling jackass, but you won’t even kill a fictional animal in a video game. You’re the softest softy to ever soft. How do you do porn when you’re this soft?”
Hunter let out a breath. Richard caring for adorable mystical creatures and being really fucking good at it was not cute. Or attractive. Or any other adjective. He was a jackass. Not cute. One game didn’t change that. Regardless of what Hunter’s competence kink was trying to tell him.
“Why would you ask me? I’m terrible at video games. The absolute worst. Only good at one thing.” “Two,” Max and Hunter said in unison. “Well, two plus one very specific instance of a third,” Hunter clarified.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Hunter said to Hardin, holding out his hand. He was as attractive in person as he was in his videos, positively crushing the tall, dark, and handsome vibe with his black hair and tan skin. His thick lashes framed eyes a person could lose themselves in as they tried to name the mix of colors they held. Objectively speaking, he was smoking hot. Hunter had figured if they ever met, it’d be a Herculean effort not to immediately climb Hardin like a very wolfy tree. But standing in front of him now, Hunter didn’t feel remotely that way. Sure, Hardin was hot. Richard was
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His gaze landed on the juncture of Richard’s neck, on the smooth skin there. Too smooth. He should fix that. The instinct too overwhelming to deny, he leaned forward, his mouth latching onto Richard’s shoulder. He bit down, not hard enough to draw blood, but hard enough to bruise. But damn, he wanted to do more than that. He wanted to sink his teeth into Richard, wanted everyone to see his claim etched there.
“Fuck, guys, I am so sorry.” “You’re so buying drinks for the rest of the fucking year is what you are,” Max said. Richard winced. “Fair.” “What the shit, man?” Max glowered at him. “I don’t know what’s gotten into me.” “Don’t you?” Hardin asked. Richard groaned. He did, but that didn’t mean he wanted to admit it. Not fully, anyway.
“My wolf couldn’t stand it. It wants this shit to be real.” Hardin studied him before asking, “What do you want?” “There’s only a month and a half left. It doesn’t matter what I want.” He scoffed. “I guess I’ll feel what everyone else is talking about when they say severing a bond is painful.” They both jerked their heads toward him at the implied confession in his words. That it wasn’t just a physical thing; it wasn’t just his wolf. Max opened his mouth to speak, but Hardin beat him to it. “You don’t want to keep the bond? To keep him?”
“How did you put it? ‘You figure out the things that make them feel good, then give them those things.’ Do that.” “He isn’t a video game. I can’t hit buttons until his pleasure bar is full, then expect him to do whatever I want.” “It’s so bizarre to hear you use a video game analogy,” Hardin said.
“How did you find out about…” He made a gesture that vaguely encompassed himself and the world. “Us. This. The paranormal.” Hunter looked up from his phone, his brown eyes glittering with amusement. “That’s Chance’s fault. At college, we shared a dorm room during freshman year and became friends. But there was something weird about him. He was always secretive about certain things, and I couldn’t figure out why. He was so open about everything else. Like, he’ll happily tell anyone who’ll listen how much he enjoys being in the middle of a threesome.” Richard had seen a few of Chance’s scenes.
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When he shifted back, I had a lot of questions, but he was drunk and mad at me, so instead of answering my questions, he pulled up a website on his laptop, shoved it at me, and said if I wanted to fuck weird aliens, I should do some research first. He then stormed into his room and passed out. The featured video that day was the coffee shop one, so it was on top. It was a fun watch, but with them both moaning about knotting, I figured it was just some fetish I’d never come across before. Then I scrolled down. By the time he woke up, I had even more questions and had also found out how he’d
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I’d seen some of yours. No special effects are making that happen.” Richard winked at him. “All real.” “I’m aware.” Hunter grinned wryly.
As they neared the counter, Hunter pointed to a large sign proclaiming, “Life is short, lick fast.” “Hey. Change two letters, and it’s your unofficial motto.” Richard stepped closer to say under his breath, “If you think any of our scenes went too fast, I’ll draw the next one out extra long.” Hunter’s answering grin was wicked. “You forget. Our next scene? I get to set the pace.”
He leered at Richard and squeezed the eggplant, though that was not something a person strictly needed to do before buying one. “So I gave it a shot, and here I am. Seemed easier than getting a normal job.” “Been about a year now?” Richard eyed Hunter with trepidation as he drifted over to a display of cucumbers and picked up one of the largest. “Yeah. You?” he asked, fingers running over firm, smooth skin, eyes bright with unconvincing innocence. They were going to get kicked out of this shop if Hunter kept that up.
“I tell them I’ve got a boring low-level desk job at a large media company.” “Ah. I’ve seen the one where you got the desk job. Seriously impressed with your coworker’s flexibility. Not everyone could get the hard work done in such cramped quarters.” “Especially considering how much of it there was to do.”
“Which would they freak out over more?” “That my coworkers exist, or how those coworkers are working with their only child?” “Yeah, that.” “They both enjoy fantasy movies, so they might think the former is cool. The latter, on the other hand…” “So they enjoy fantasy movies, but not fantasy movies.”
Hunter looked around, then gestured to a coffee shop. “Shall we?” Richard raised an eyebrow at Hunter, who blushed slightly, looking more flustered than Richard had ever seen him. “To get coffee,” Hunter clarified. “Not get arrested for… signing contracts in public.”
“I’m assuming you got enough for something decent from this contract alone.” “I was able to pay off the education I’m not using. Most of the rest was used to start a retirement fund.” “How responsible of you.” “Hey, I’m living the dream. Debt-free with a nest egg? There are recent grads who’d kill for that.” “Never use the phrase ‘nest egg’ around Brandt, please? I’m concerned about the scenes it might inspire.”
He switched to an announcer voice. “In a village, for some reason populated only by one hundred attractive single horny bottoms, one incredibly well-endowed top searches for true love… by sticking his dick in every hole he can find.”
Or perhaps the mysterious person lurking on the other side of the tavern glory hole?” “If they ever ask me to do that, I’m quitting. I’m not knotting someone through a glory hole. As much fun as it’d be to stand plastered to a wall, waiting for my knot to deflate.” “Yeah, can’t say I’d volunteer my ass for that either.”
Max’s scent is like that. Waterfall mist on mossy stones.” “And Hardin?” “Hardin is a little more difficult to explain to someone who has never been a wolf. Basically, he smells like the moon reflecting off tranquil waters.” Hunter paused as he considered that. “So together they’d be this moonlit waterfall that spills into a crystal pond surrounded by glistening mossy stones? That sounds… lovely.” “I’d assume the spilling into would usually happen the other way around, but yeah.” “Aaand you ruined it. Thanks.”
“If I shift, my wolf will have control, and it really wants to fuck right now.” Hunter raised an eyebrow at him. “Not like that. Well. Maybe like that. My wolf isn’t necessarily against it, if that’s what it takes. But mostly it wants to stalk you through the apartment, pin you down, then shift to human. At which point, I’d be on top of you. Naked.” The first reply that popped into Hunter’s head was, Don’t threaten me with a good time. He didn’t say it though; it didn’t seem like a particularly coworker-y sentiment.
Hunter huffed out a frustrated sigh, throwing his head back on the couch. “Pretty sure I’m nearing the ‘If your erection lasts longer than four hours’ point over here,” he whined before he could stop himself.
Fuck, it was like he was sensing what Richard wanted to see. How he wanted Hunter to touch himself, to fuck into his fist as his other hand played with his balls, to roll his foreskin over his head. Hunter’s breath caught. He didn’t have foreskin. Richard did. He wasn’t feeling what Richard wanted him to do to himself; it was what Richard wanted Hunter to do to him.
Hunter collapsed against the couch, panting, heart racing, shirt splattered with come. He floated in smug satisfaction as he twitched and trembled from aftershocks, trying to recover as euphoria hummed through him, through Richard, and back. The hottest porn star on the planet had come untouched because of him, and it was more thrilling than anything he’d ever experienced.
“You were thinking of me as you rode it, weren’t you? Wondering how my cock would feel. I can smell how much you want it. How much you need me to knot that pretty little ass of yours again.” Hunter shuddered. “Do you still have it?” Hunter nodded, dazed. “Good,” Richard said, his wolf in full control. “Because someday, I’m going to watch you ride it until you beg me for the real thing.”
“Have fun with your side scene,” he called over his shoulder as he headed toward the exit. “I hope your human doesn’t mind sensing you come through the bond. That was always such a treat.” Richard’s stomach lurched at the thought. He squeezed his eyes shut until the nausea passed. When he opened them, Duke was gone. Scowling, Richard hit the elevator button again. Duke couldn’t let it go, could he? Years and half a dozen bonding contracts of his own later, he still blamed Richard for their lack of compatibility.
“What the fuck is going on? You do not feel okay.” “I’m fi—” Hunter cut him off. “You’re not fucking fine. I’ve never had a panic attack before, but you’re making me feel like I’m having one.
“Where’s your pale little shadow today?” “Everett’s working with the MateHub Originals division on the preproduction for the H4 sequel. If he has his way, Shattered Souls & Secret Scents will make Lord of the Rings look like a low-budget indie film.”
“You missed your calling. You should have been a real actor.” Hunter shot him a look of mock outrage. “Are you saying my outstanding performances as Broke, Innocent Human were not Oscar worthy?” “I would never.”
“But are you okay? You feel less panicky.” “Yeah, I’m okay.” Really okay. More okay than he wanted to think about. “Thank you for calling Trick a floozy. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the face he made.” “I feel a teeny bit bad about that. I didn’t realize you were working with Trick. He’s an awesome guy,”
“Did you run here?” Richard asked. Hunter gave a dismissive wave. “Seemed faster than calling a car and dealing with traffic. It was only fifteen minutes.” That was the stupidest, most romantic gesture anyone had done for him. It made his entire being feel warm and light.
“I AM TAKING MY MATE AND GOING HOME!” he announced as the crew stared at them. “WHERE NONE OF YOU TROLLOPS CAN SOIL HIM WITH YOUR STRUMPET HANDS AND TARTY WAYS!”
“Trollops?” Richard asked after the elevator doors shut. “Should I have gone with fornicators instead?”
“You fuck using stripper rules. You do all the touching; your co-stars barely touch you.” He wasn’t wrong. Richard couldn’t deny it. “I like getting people off. I like making them come hard, giving them what they need.”
“Are you okay with doing it? I don’t think I’ll be able to convincingly storm the set of my own scene, call myself an adulterous floozy, then drag you out of there.”
“You don’t have to answer,” Hunter said, “but were those ‘few times’ consensual?” “Yes. Just painful.” He’d been young and stupid and hadn’t realized it wasn’t supposed to hurt. The guys he’d experimented with either hadn’t known or hadn’t cared. Whichever it was, it’d led to a few less-than-pleasant experiences. Hunter searched his face. Richard’s eyes darted to the side, uncomfortable under his scrutiny. “I heal fast.” “Physically, maybe,” Hunter said.
“Hottest scene?” Hunter asked, sounding as breathless as Richard felt. “Anything with you,” he answered before he could overthink it. “Same.”
“I’ll admit it,” Richard said. “That would have sucked for the cameras. So… what are you doing tomorrow?” Hunter turned to study him. “Are you implying ‘you’ is an option?”
Having that constant presence with him, that warmth carried inside him, was more pleasant than he would have expected. He’d assumed it’d be intrusive; it wasn’t. It was almost comforting, almost like home. But it wasn’t home. No matter how much he enjoyed the sex, or how much time they spent together. No matter how many nights they ended up gasping into each other’s mouths as he rocked into Richard’s tight heat. It was work. The best goddamn work week of his life.
“You have to work out?” Hunter had asked. “Chance never seems to.” Richard shrugged. “It’s not so much that I have to. I like to. Running feels good regardless of the form I’m in.” Hunter shot him a disgruntled look. “I don’t like to so much as I have to.”
