The Siege of Kadenburg by T. E. Ridener Page A

could still get pups if I wanted,” Rutley rolled his eyes, allowing his blunt nails to rake over the sensitive flesh of Dimitri’s wrist. “There are arrangements for stuff like that, you know?”
    Dimitri’s eyes slid closed as he drew in a shallow breath, trying to keep his mind from shutting down. His body was on fire, the proof of his arousal was straining against his boxer briefs, but this couldn’t happen. It could never happen between them.
    He could feel Rutley’s hot breath fanning against his lips and there was no denying he wanted his beta to kiss him. He wanted Rutley to kiss him hard and passionately. He wanted to remember what it felt like to be desired. He wanted to remember what it felt like to be so lost in another person that it was hard to tell where one body ended and the other began. He missed it. He missed Liam.
    And that’s what caused Rutley to pull away from him. He slowly opened his eyes, catching a glimpse of the pain in the other male’s eyes before Rutley got out of the bed and grabbed for his jeans.
    Shit.
    “I’m sorry.” Dimitri whispered.
    “Don’t be,” Rutley shrugged as he hopped up and down, tugging his jeans into place. He glanced at him over his shoulder. The pain was no longer in his eyes, but Dimitri knew he was only hiding it from him. He could still feel it. “He was a hell of a guy.” Rutley didn’t give him a chance to say anything else as he pulled open the bedroom door and disappeared, leaving Dimitri with only his shame.
    “You’re a hell of a guy, too,” He whispered. A guy he couldn’t, under any circumstances, fall in love with.
    ———————————
    G od, this really needed to stop happening. Rutley was seriously confused by Dimitri’s bipolar behavior. One minute he was mad at him and telling him to stay away from Kia, and then the next he was being nice and telling him they should give it a shot. Not that Rutley was relatively interested in dating a woman he barely knew, but what the hell?
    He shook his head in frustration, opening the fridge door to peer inside. Damn it, the power was still out. Everything was probably ruined by now. Perfect.
    He slammed the fridge door and moved to the cabinets above the sink, roaming through each one in search of some peanut butter and jelly. God, if they didn’t have any more PB&J, someone was going to be in for a world of hurt. How was he supposed to survive without his PB&J?
    He was trying very hard not to think about the night before. He hadn’t meant for that to happen at all, but it did happen and they needed to deal with the consequences. He didn’t want things to get weird with Dimitri. They were friends, weren’t they? Surely they could work past it…..
    “Morning.” Came the very feminine voice of Kia as she entered the kitchen. Rutley slowly turned his head to gaze at her, noting the way she lazily leaned against the doorframe.
    For fuck’s sake, why was she wearing only a t-shirt?
    Mother of God, somebody’s got it out for me today. Rutley thought bitterly as he closed the cabinet door and decided to give up on his hunt for food. He had worse things to deal with right now. Being turned on by Dimitri, and now by the sight of Kia’s creamy thighs…it was going to be the death of him.
    “Mornin’.” He muttered, his jawline working into overtime. This was bad. This was very bad. He needed to send her away, but then that would make him more of a prick than Dimitri had been last night. As it turned out, Kia Fallon was their brand new neighbor they didn’t even know about, and someone had trashed her place while she went out for drinks with some friends. She was too scared to go inside. Ironically enough, when Rutley went to investigate for her, he discovered her kerosene heaters were gone. What shitty luck, huh?
    Of course they couldn’t just put her out in the cold like that. Dimitri wasn’t even that cruel, so the alpha wolf decided she could crash on the couch, but Rutley