Casey closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep with a smile on his lips and his cock hard and aching with need.

Nicky and Marco motioned to Rory from across the room. He didn’t want to even be at this party. He knew Casey would be there, and Casey had ordered him to go to his room tonight. He’d implied he would mate with him, and Rory was terrified. Not of Casey physically. He’d face him and try to fight him off if he had to. No, he was terrified of his feelings for the handsome young wolf. He was so terribly drawn to him. The night before, when he’d come to his room, Rory felt as if he were drowning in his passion and love. He hated to admit to anyone he was a virgin. Until Casey’s mouth closed over him, his poor cock had known only his own hand. Casey was the first person he’d ever been with in any sexual way. When Casey put his mouth on him, he’d lost his free will, never wanting the feelings to stop. That loss of his will to resist was what frightened him. If Casey made love to him again, he might totally lose himself and fall headlong into submission to him. What he feared the most was the fact he didn’t trust Casey to catch him if he fell. Sometimes when he gazed into his eyes, he saw emotions he didn’t understand, almost as if Casey despised him yet loved him at the same time.

If he went to Marco for protection, he’d probably give it to him, but what kind of man would he be to run to his uncle for help. No, he had to stand up to Casey and tell him firmly he was not interested in him as a mate. He had to look him straight in the eye and tell him to leave him alone, with no assurances Casey would abide by his wishes even if he believed him. He strongly suspected Casey was not going to take no for an answer. The best plan for him was to avoid him if at all possible. He’d stay close to Marco and Nicky tonight and hope Casey would give up and go away. Maybe he was only postponing the inevitable, but he wanted a reprieve for just one night.

Nicky had never looked more handsome and happy. He was dressed in a lovely white robe, the same robe he’d worn for his ceremony to introduce him to the clan and proclaim him Marco’s mate. He and Rory had a knock-down, drag-out argument about him wearing the robe at all. Rory remembered with a smile how Nicky had threatened to beat him up if he made him wear what he called a dress. Nicky thought it looked too girly. Marco had to force him wear it that night, and he really did look nice. He bet Nicky hadn’t objected for their anniversary. He jumped up and gave Rory a hug as he came over to the table.

“Sit down, Rory, and tell me what’s going on with you and Casey. You’ve been avoiding me all day.”

“I haven’t been avoiding you. I’ve been busy.”

“Busy doing what? Hiding in your room so Casey wouldn’t see you?”

“Shut up, Nicky. Marco, tell him to shut his mouth, or I’ll shut it for him.” Marco rolled his eyes and pulled Nicky closer to him with an arm around his waist. “Will

you two stop fighting? Nicky, behave yourself. If Rory doesn’t want to talk about Casey, he doesn’t have to, though I believe Casey said he’d be at the party tonight.”

“Who cares if he’s at the party? I’m not his mate, Marco, no matter how many times he says I am.”

“I’m not the one you have to convince.”

“Don’t look now, Rory, but tall, dark, and dominant just walked in the door, and he’s headed

this way.” Nicky gazed toward the door and laughed at the panicked expression on Rory’s face. Casey, looking impossibly gorgeous and sexy, made his way with determination across the crowded room. Rory felt like a deer in the headlights, frozen as Casey held his gaze with his eyes, refusing to release him. Rory wrenched his gaze away at the last minute and tried to dodge out onto the dance floor, anywhere to avoid speaking to him, but he was too late. Casey snapped him back by his wrist and drew him into his arms, holding him there with a steely grip.

“Let’s dance, darlin’. I believe they’re playing our song.”

Both hands against his chest, Rory pushed. “No! I’m not dancing with you. Stop it!” He may as well have been pushing against a stone pillar for all the good it did. Casey drew

him inexorably out onto the floor, and unless Rory wanted to make a scene, bringing everyone’s attention to what was going on, he had to go along with him. Dragging his feet, his face beet red, he hissed at Casey, “You’re embarrassing me, as you well know. I don’t dance with other wolves.”

“Well, you do now, sweetheart. If you’d stop fighting me, you might even enjoy it. C’mon baby, relax.”

“I don’t know even know how to do this!”

“What, dance? Or dance with another man? Relax and I’ll lead.” He put both arms around Rory’s waist. “Now put your arms around my neck, baby. That’s it. See? We’re dancing.”

Dancing might have been too elaborate a word for what they were doing, which was mostly standing in one place swaying a little to the music. Rory put his head down facing Casey’s chest so he wouldn’t have to see Nicky laughing at him, as he was sure he was. He found himself wanting to rest his head against Casey’s chest, thinking it might be a very comfortable place to stay, and wished he might stay there for a very long time. Casey’s closeness soothed something deep inside him.

As the music played on, Rory decided he’d been missing out on something by never learning to dance. It was really quite nice. Casey began to move him across the floor, and Rory went along with him, still keeping his head down, letting himself relax and enjoy being close to Casey, even if for only a few minutes. Finally he raised his head and saw that Casey was moving him slowly to the outer edge of dancers, toward the dim recesses of the room.

“Oh no, you don’t, Casey. I’m not leaving here with you, so stop trying to pull me out of here.”

“C’mon, baby. You know you want to be alone with me. Just for a little while.” Casey bent his head and put his lips beside Rory’s ear, causing him to shiver deliciously. Rory pushed against him again though, and stopped moving anywhere.

“No! Let me go, Casey. You’ve had your fun.”

“Actually I’m just getting started, darlin’.”

“Yeah, well, fuck you, Casey.”

“I’d rather fuck you, honey. Let’s go to my room for a little while.”

Rory stomped down on Casey’s foot as hard as he could, taking him completely by surprise. The look on his face was almost comical, as he dropped his arms and stumbled back a few steps. Rory jerked away from him and took off across the dance floor, heading not toward Marco’s table, but toward a large group standing by the buffet table. He arrived slightly out of breath, not daring to look back over his shoulder, uneasy at the thought of Casey’s anger at his resistance. He grabbed a plate from the buffet and started down the line, dishing food onto his plate, but barely glancing to see what he’d even selected.

Someone came up to stand at his elbow. Thinking it was Casey, he turned viciously to growl at him, but instead of Casey, a handsome young werekin named Chad stood there.

“Whoa, dude! I was just coming over to say hello.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Chad. I thought you were someone else!” Rory ducked his head in embarrassment. “Someone much more annoying. Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Chad said warmly, putting his hand on Rory’s arm. “I saw you dancing with Casey. I never knew you liked boys before. I was wondering if you’d dance with me?”

Rory raised his gaze to say something kind, but dismissive. He didn’t like boys. He just craved Casey, and he had to get him out of his system. When he glanced into Chad’s eyes, they were so hopeful and sweet he didn’t want to hurt his feelings. “Sure, Chad. I’ll dance with you,” he heard himself say. “Let me eat a bite or two first, okay?”

“Sure. I’ll sit with you while you eat if that’s okay?”

Rory shrugged and was about to make some kind of excuse when he saw Casey glaring across the room at Chad’s hand still on his arm. A kind of thrill went through him. Casey was jealous, really jealous, from the look of fury on his face. Some perverse little demon took hold of him, and suddenly he wanted to make Casey miserably jealous. He wanted to make Casey just as uncomfortable and confused as Casey made him. He put his arm around Chad’s shoulders and squeezed. “Sure you can, honey. Let’s find a place to sit down.”

He led Chad over to an empty table, feeling the waves of disapproval coming off Casey. They hit him in a palpable tide of anger and jealousy, spurring him on to do even more. When they arrived at the table, he pulled out the chair for Chad and even dropped a little kiss on his cheek. Chad blushed, evidently pleased at the attention.

He was a cute little thing, taking after his human mother in size, not much smaller than Rory. Until the recent changes instigated by Nicky, male pets, mated or unmated, were not permitted to wear shirts. Though now many had adapted to common clothes, Chad hadn’t, showing off lean muscles across his shoulders and arms and a full expanse of smooth, tanned skin on his abs. He had very pretty brown eyes shining with excitement. A part of Rory felt guilty at the idea of leading him on. He really had no interest in anyone except Casey, but the temptation of irritating Casey was too great to allow him to stop. Sitting down beside the young man and scooting his chair up close, Rory ate a little, not really tasting anything, too aware of Casey glaring at them from across the room. Chad babbled about something the whole time. Rory paid little attention, just nodding occasionally to make him think he was.

When he finished, he pushed his plate back and stood up, offering his hand to Chad. “Let’s dance. I’m not very good at it. In fact, I really can’t dance at all. You may have to show me.”

Chad jumped up eagerly, and the two of them went to the dance floor as a slow song started up. Chad put both his arms enthusiastically around Rory’s neck and pushed his body up close, brushing his groin against Rory’s. Rory blushed and almost pulled away, but he heard Casey growl from across the room. Rory glanced nervously over at him and saw Casey get to his feet and start their way. He wrapped both arms around Chad’s waist and deliberately turned his back on Casey.