INKED 2: CACTUS JUICE
by Kate Hill
Format(s): Ebook
Heat Level: Erotic
Pairing(s): M/M
Genre/Themes: Shapeshifter
Length: Novella
Publisher: Changeling Press
Cover Art: Angela Knight
ISBN: 978-1-60521-484-9
Purchase Link: Changeling Press
Related Books or Books Set in the Same Universe: Inked, Mate Marks, Mate Marks Cursed, Prowleryns
Blurb:
Stranded on a desert road, Adrian meets a sexy biker who offers him a ride in more ways than one.
On his way to a yearly ritual, Eric didn’t expect to find a handsome stranger lost in the Mojave. A night of fantastic sex turns to love, but Eric has a supernatural secret and despite his magical trip to the desert, Adrian refuses to believe in the paranormal.
By the law of the desert spirits, a man who shares his seed with anyone but the brotherhood or his one true love forfeits his extended life. Will Eric’s love end his supernatural existence, or will Adrian join him as his eternal mate?
The following excerpt from CACTUS JUICE is for readers 18 and over.
A wave of blackness overcame Adrian and he nearly panicked–something that rarely happened to this former soldier.
“Whoa,” he murmured, stumbling and reaching for the car to steady himself, but he felt only empty space around him.
He opened his eyes and his heart skipped a beat.
“No way. This isn’t happening,” he said, glancing around at the endless stretch of road extending through a vast desert.
This couldn’t be real. He must have blacked out–had a heart attack or something, though he wondered how, considering he was only thirty-six years old and in excellent physical condition. He might be honorably discharged, but he still never missed his daily PT.
The last thing he remembered was checking Damon’s engine and admiring the man’s tat. One minute he was in his garage and the next–
The sound of an engine roaring in the distance broke his thoughts. Squinting toward the motorcycle racing toward him, he experienced an indescribable sensation. The tattoo had been of a bike in the desert. This was too strange. Had the tattoo inspired this vision? Yet it didn’t feel like a vision, or at least how he imagined one would feel. This situation seemed perfectly real, from the scorching heat to the rumble of the engine to the hardness of the road beneath his booted feet.
By now the bike was near enough for Adrian to see the rider. He looked young, maybe twenty-five. His features would have been boy-next-door adorable, if not for the dark, scruffy beard and the intense look in his wide-set blue eyes. His unbuttoned plaid shirt exposed his smooth, well-muscled chest and sexy six-pack. The rolled-up sleeves revealed sinewy forearms lightly dusted with dark hair. Long, denim-clad legs rested against the sides of the bike, then straightened almost completely as he stopped a short distance from Adrian.
“Hey,” the guy said in a deep, pleasant voice. Those gorgeous blue eyes swept Adrian from head to toe. “You okay? Do you need some help?”
Adrian wasn’t sure. He felt fine, but his split-second journey from the garage to the desert made him question his health, both mental and physical.
“Are you broken down somewhere? I don’t see a car or anything,” continued the handsome young man. Fuck, Adrian hadn’t seen lips that kissable since. . .Never. He’d had his share of lovers, but no one had ever turned him on quite like this.
“I uh. . .didn’t bring a car.”
“What did you walk all the way out here? No backpack? No water?” His gaze shifted to Adrian’s shaved head. “No hat? Man, you’re lucky your ass ain’t fried.” He tilted his head to glance at Adrian’s denim-clad backside. “And that would be a terrible waste.”
The last thing Adrian expected was this stud to flirt with him. This hallucination was turning into a fantasy. Heart attack or not, Adrian decided to play along. At least it was better than thinking about the trip home.
“I don’t know how I got here,” Adrian said. “How far are we from someplace where I can use a phone?”
The guy’s lips curved into an easy smile. “A long, long way. I was about to camp for tonight. You can join me if you want to and in the morning I’ll drive you to LA.”
Las Angeles. Exactly where he needed to be tomorrow for the reading of his father’s will, except he’d expected to arrive by plane.
“What day is it?”
“June third,” the biker replied. When Adrian still looked perplexed, he cocked an eyebrow and added. “2011.”
The same day, but how the hell had he traveled from his garage to the Mojave Desert in literally a blink?
“You sure you’re okay?” The man looked at him warily.
Adrian didn’t blame him for worrying. He probably sounded like he’d lost his mind or been popping pills.
“Yeah. I’m fine. There’s no way you could get me to LA tonight?”
“Sorry, man, I’m beat. If I don’t get some sleep I’m going to fall off my bike, but like I said you’re welcome to camp with me. The temperature can drop pretty low out here at night.”
“Thanks,” Adrian said. “Appreciate it.”
“Hop on.”
Adrian’s heartbeat quickened as he approached and mounted behind the sexy biker. He willed his cock to stay under control, but it seemed to have a will of its own. Once his body touched the biker’s waves of pleasure washed over him. Sweat beaded on his forehead and upper lip and trickled down his spine, yet he knew his rise in body temperature wasn’t merely from the desert sun.
The biker drew a sharp breath and his body tensed. Then he rolled his shoulders and relaxed a bit before gunning the bike and taking off.
“You got a name?” shouted the biker above the roar of the engine and the howling of the wind.
“Adrian. You?”
“Eric. You from around here?”
“I was born here but I live out east now. Where are you from?”
“All over. I like to move around, but I grew up in Vancouver.”
As they talked, Adrian tried to relax, but the sexual tension flooding his body made his head spin with pleasure-pain. He was almost tempted to grasp Eric’s lean hips, but if he did he couldn’t tell what would happen next. As turned on as he was, he might go off just from a bit more contact.
The marvelously torturous ride seemed to take forever, but at the same time end far too soon. Once the bike stopped, Adrian dismounted. As soon as he broke contact with Eric, the flood of sexual desire eased, yet left him with a terrible longing.
Eric stepped off the bike and reached for his gear.
“Want to get a fire started while I set up camp?” Eric asked, his voice a bit rougher than it had been earlier. He seemed to be deliberately avoiding glancing in Adrian’s direction. Was it possible he had been affected by a sexual rush too?
Adrian’s gaze drifted to Eric’s crotch. Relief washed over him upon seeing the telltale bulge straining against the denim.
Social