Thrown to the Wolves (Big Bad Wolf, #3)

by Charlie Adhara

Cooper arched up to whisper against Park’s jaw, “I want you on your back so I can ride you.” He nipped at his skin. “Want to get myself off on your cock. Please, can I?” Park’s eyes snapped open and he hopped up like an alarm had sounded and scooted onto his back so violently the corner sheet popped off.

“Cooper,” Park groaned, fingers gripping his hips. “Yeah? Good?” “Perfect. Always perfect. Can’t wait to go home with you. God, I wish we were there now.” “Is that what has you so excited?” Cooper guessed. “Living together?” Park inhaled sharply, eyes not straying from his face. Cooper grinned. “It is, isn’t it? Don’t tell me you’re hard for my real estate.” He ground down in a slow circle on Park’s dick.

“You want me to ride you like this in our bed?” Cooper said. “Want me to take you pressed against the door of our home when we can’t wait to get to our room?” “Yes!” Park cried out. “Anywhere. Anyhow.”

“Do anything for you,” Park whispered. “Just want to be with you.” Cooper scratched down the center of Park’s chest and belly, avoiding the bandages and eliciting a hiss and buck of his hips. “Then come on and fuck me. Just how I like it,” Cooper challenged.

“Just want to please you. Love to make you happy. Love to love you. Please don’t make me stop loving you.” “Never,” Cooper said, rash and brash and full of the omniscient confidence only a fast-approaching orgasm can provide.

Park covered Cooper’s hand with his own and pulled back so he could look him in the eye. “You’ve seen the worst of me. You are the best of me. I won’t ever risk losing that again.” His thumb started stroking the back of Cooper’s hand. They kissed, too exhausted for anything fancier than lips touching.

He cleared his throat. “I just, uh, started noticing some gray a couple of years ago.” Park glanced at Cooper, who was just staring at him blankly, then looked away, face starting to flush. “Just a few hairs here and there. Then some more. I’ve been plucking them, but obviously the fur is different.” After a long, quiet moment, Cooper rolled away so that his back was flat on the bed and they were no longer touching. “Will the lies never end?” he howled at the ceiling. Park gasped and rolled on top of him, shushing him. They laughed and wrestled until officially exhausted, and then Cooper showed Park what he really thought the best part of him was.

“Damn,” Cooper said. “Is this what living with you is going to be like? You keep a tight schedule. Should we synchronize our watches?” Park ticked his answers off on his fingers. “One, yes, it is. Two, that’s not the only tight thing you have to look forward to. And three, I’m already synced up to you right here.” He patted his heart. Cooper’s face split into a grin. “That is so cheesy.” He leaned forward for a kiss.

As it turned out, he was just as hard and prickly as he needed to be to shelter the sweet, vulnerable, deceptively soft man he’d fallen in love with.

Park came to stand by Cooper. “I believe him.” “Ollie,” Marcus said with disbelief. “No.” “Cooper has never lied to me. I trust him.” “Against your own family? Your blood?” “Against anyone.” Marcus’s face twisted and he snorted, his usually pleasant voice mocking, “So what, you follow him now? Is he your human alpha?” “Yes,” Park said simply. “He is.” Cooper glanced at him, startled, but Park did not meet his eye. He stared at his family, his ex-pack, one by one. “He is.”

Just like any power-hungry man, deep down he was a coward.

Cooper was, in fact, sure he wasn’t. He felt heartsore thinking about how lonely Park had been all these years. How lonely he still got sometimes. “But if he also joined the Trust...” “I see no reason why you should not continue to work together as partners in the field.” Cooper stared at her. “Partners?” He could do a job he was genuinely excited about for the first time in...years and continue to work with Oliver? “I don’t know what to say.”

“You’d give up a job in the Trust practically tailor-made for you so I could move back in with my grandmother?” Park asked, frowning. “Yes, I would. Your happiness is more important to me than the job. Whatever the job is.” Cooper brought the back of Park’s hand to his mouth for a kiss. “You obviously need a pack and I obviously need you. So if this is our best opportunity to be in a pack together, I don’t want to hold you back.” Park surprised him by laughing. “Hey, I was making a serious overture of affection here. Do you mind?” “Cooper,” Park said, still laughing. “I don’t need to rejoin them to be part of a pack. I’m already part of a pack.” “What...?” “Yours, you dope.” Cooper blinked at him. “Mine? You’re—What?” Park tilted his head and a slight crease of worry appeared between his eyes. “As long as you still want me.”

“Okay. And without making fun of me, what does it mean as far as our relationship goes?” “For you? It means nothing more than what we’ve been building together for a while. You are my partner. My love. My family.” “And for you?” he asked, his voice gruff. “With you I’m finally home.” Park said it as if it was that simple. Maybe for once it could be. Hadn’t they had enough complicated in their lives? Cooper leaned forward and pressed a gentle, lingering kiss to his lips. When he pulled back and opened his eyes, Park’s face was entirely open and glowing with tender, almost shy happiness and love. Cooper couldn’t help but smile back. Yes, he could get very used to something simple. With Oliver at his side, in his pack, what could possibly go wrong?