The Defiant Claim - The Claim: Book 2 [LGBTQ+]

Mik didn’t know what to do. His situation was out of his control and the only way he could regain some semblance of control was to give in to the demands of that monster. Biding his time and rebuilding his strength was his only option for now.

So he had to bite back his pride and submit.

Fuck!

Once the bindings were removed along with the catheter, he could breathe again.

And his mate—that male—stank. First of pungent anxiety and then later of arousal.

The stink of his arousal wasn’t too bad—but it made Mik sick. Just the thought of that male getting a hard-on and touching him...

Sam’s clean smell was much more tolerable. Pleasant even, as much as he wouldn’t like to admit it. He refused to even admit to himself that by closing his eyes and inhaling Sam’s clean scent, he felt comforted and at peace. A part of him wanted to hold fast to the one carrying that scent. Press his nose into the crook of the neck and call it ”his.”

But he couldn’t.

He had to keep that male at a distance, lest Sam get the wrong idea that he stood a chance at a future with Mik as a mate.

After helping Mik back into his bed, Sam left to take a shower, leaving Mik alone with his thoughts.

What would he do with Sam? How could he keep Sam at bay? How would the matebond twist his feelings toward that male? How could he resist giving in to the pull?

His father told him about the matebond. How crazy it made his father feel when he first found his mother. How he wanted to mate, mark, and claim her immediately, but his mother was fierce and put him in his place and made him earn the right to claim her forever. He loved her intensely for it, even though their courtship was brief.

His father would only talk about her when he stank of alcohol and was reminiscing. Otherwise, Mik steered clear of him because alcohol always made his claws and teeth come out.

He didn’t know what his mother looked like. He was two when she died and his father stored all her things, all pictures of her, in a separate room and refused to let him into it. When he did, his father made a point not to step foot into it again.

Mik did anyway. And each time, he emerged black and blue.

Looking up at the ceiling, he searched his memory for framed pictures of her on the wall and dresser but he was often too small to get a good view of her.

He only remembered her long blond hair, like his own. And a baby-blue sundress with little white flowers stitched into it.

“Is this better?”

Looking down, Mik was greeted by Sam’s shy smile as he approached the bed in comfortable clothes.

Drawing the air into his lungs, Mik closed his eyes and relaxed into the bed. A blurred figure with blond hair and a blue sundress swayed in his mind before fading to black.

“Yes,” Mik murmured, opening his eyes. “Thank you.”

“So, I was thinking...” Sam trailed off, biting his lower lip, “you’ve been cooped up in here for a while. Would you like to step outside for a bit? I mean, get in a wheelchair and let me take you out?” He blushed. “You know, just for a change of scenery. Get some fresh air. It’s nice out.”

Sam looked like he could use a bit of sun. His skin was unusually pale for a wolf, making his blush that much redder.

Mik didn’t want to be seen in this state—with a broken arm and leg. He was pathetic. “Is it private?”

“Um...” Sam’s face scrunched up in thought. “Not really.” His face fell as his shoulders slumped. “Well, there goes that idea.”

A pain pricked in Mik’s chest. He looked away. “It’s fine. Let’s go.”

“Really?”

The happiness in Sam’s voice twisted around Mik’s heart, pricking him like thorns on a vine.

What use was there in hiding his physical state or the fact that Sam was his mate? He bet everyone in the pack knew about him and what was going on. Word of two males as mates probably spread like wildfire. His physical state probably wasn’t too far off the rumor train as well.

“Yeah. Wherever you want to go, let’s go.”

“Okay!” Sam all but ran out the door to fetch a wheelchair, only to spin around and run back as he left the chair against the wall in the room. A blush of embarrassment shaded his cheeks a few more degrees as he grabbed hold of the chair and pushed it to the edge of Mik’s bed.

Mik let him help him onto the chair and could feel Sam’s happiness radiate through his touch. It warmed him, fluttering around in his gut as Sam stepped behind him and pushed him forward.

Out the infirmary and down the hallway, Sam pushed him through the main floor of the pack house and out into the blinding hot sunshine.

Mik shielded his eyes with his good hand and squinted out into the field of green grass. There was a pool with pups splashing around, their mothers watching over them or in the water with them. A playground was at the other end of the house with a gazebo and picnic tables beyond that. Looked like a nice communal area to hang out.

A few heads turned their way, but Sam turned him away and wheeled him toward the gazebo, only to stop a few yards away from it.

“What’s up?” Mik asked, looking around and over his shoulder when Sam didn’t move.

“This was a bad idea,” Sam mumbled, his eyes staring straight ahead.

Furrowing his brows, Mik followed his gaze to the gazebo and saw a few adults standing there, whispering amongst themselves and staring back at him and Sam.

“We should go.” Sam turned to retreat back toward the pack house.

“Why?”

“Samuel.”

Sam whimpered at the loud, sharp voice.

The hair on the back of Mik’s neck and arms bristled. He looked over to see Sam trembling, his head bowed and his back toward the approaching male and two females. Even out in the fresh air, fear and anxiety rolled off Sam in thick heavy waves.

A growl rumbled up his throat, causing the approaching male to stop a few yards away. Dark eyes under short salt and pepper hair narrowed as they shifted focus between Mik and Sam. Well into his fifties, his face was lined with wrinkles and battle scars, indistinguishable between the two. A female of equal age with lighter hair streaked with gray followed nervously behind him with what must have been a daughter or daughter-in-law.

“Hello Father. Mother. Anna. How are you?” Sam’s voice trembled with the weak utterance, drawing another growl up Mik’s throat.

Was this his family? Why did the sight of them cause Sam to turn in fright? Mik didn’t like it, not one bit. Sam was pure and innocent, these wolves had no business tainting that.

“There are rumors, Samuel,” his father replied, turning hardened eyes on Mik. “I assume they are true. You always were... different.”

“The fuck is that supposed to mean?” The demand burst forth from Mik’s mouth as the muscles in his throat continued their vibration to the rising tension between the older male and his mate.

“I-I’m sorry, I disturbed you. I-I didn’t know you guys w-would be out here,” Sam mumbled before pushing Mik away and marching back to the pack house.

“The fuck?” Mik put his good foot down and tried to stop Sam in his tracks. He succeeded only in scraping the bottom of his heel against the dirt and grass. “Stop! The fuck was that about?”

“Not here.” Sam sounded close to tears. “Please, don’t make a scene.”

Mik grumbled in protest but clamped his mouth shut. His nails bit into his palms from clenching his hands.