Chasetien Kaldor felt a flicker of unease flash like a spark of lightning through his consciousness. Rising, he went to the open, sliding-glass doors and looked out into the all encompassing night. Something was stirring. A wave of eagerness tightened his belly while a swift rush of emotion arrowed up and out of his control. Swiftly quashing it, a keen smile of anticipation curved his lips for an instant before he returned to the company of his brothers.

From his place beside his human mate, Matthew Ashton, Coltas Oldarie watched Chase cross the room. Excusing himself, he joined Chase who was renewing his drink at the small bar that was part of Col and Matt’s living room. “What’s up?”

Chase gave him neutral look. “Why do you ask?”

“A second ago you sent out a wave of mental energy that slapped everyone here. It’s not like you to be sloppy, Chase. We normally have to pry things out of you.”

Chase let his gaze take in the puzzled and expectant looks from the others in the room. His Maleri’ brothers and their mates. All empathic to one degree or another. One eyebrow rose, a self-contained smile curving his lips. He spoke to the room at large. “When I figure it out, I’ll let you know.”

His answer generated several doubt-tinged grunts and a chorus of “sure you will,” from the twins, Greyan and Sethian Dennon, mates to Matthew’s brother, Eric.

Chase grinned and downed his drink. “I’ll see you, Col. Goodnight everyone.” Without another word, he left the house and headed home.

Col watched him go, a worried frown creasing his brow.

Once outside, a small proximity/identity signal was generated from the tiny chip implanted in Chase’s hand, causing the door on his Security Transport Unit to open. Once settled inside he spoke briefly, “STU, let’s go home.”

“You got it, Chief.”

Chase sighed but didn’t bother reprimanding the vehicle again. Some comedian of a tech had programmed the STU to call him Chief and no amount of arguing could dissuade it from doing so. During the ride he contemplated Col’s words. “We normally have to pry things out of you.”

“When did I become so silent and self-contained?” he asked himself, the answer coming to him with little effort.

It was a gradual process. With each passing year as part of the Security Bureau and with each promotion, he’d become more cautious, more aware of what an inadvertent slip might cost him or one of his men. He became more emotionally and mentally isolated. And lonely, though he’d rarely admit that part to himself.

The wild burst of feeling that loosed itself earlier had carried the promise of a possibility Chase had all but resigned himself to never having. The possibility of finding a mate. Despite the looming specter of his mental shields overloading, all his responsibilities had kept him from considering the eventual need for a mate hunt, as every Maleri’ who wanted to retain his sanity would eventually undertake.

His lips twitched. Chief of the Taskin City Security Bureau on a mate hunt? He could only imagine what that would do to his reputation. Who would believe that under his cool, hard exterior, a fire burned, banked and barely smoldering to be sure, but there just the same.

STU slowed and Chase pulled himself from his thoughts, ordering the vehicle to let him out at the front door before garaging itself. Working in security, Chase had inevitably made enemies over the years and he varied his routine even in simple things like which door he entered his home on any given occasion.

Automatically he checked the obvious security seals from the locked panel at the door, then those hidden extra measures he’d installed himself. Satisfied, he entered the house, ordering those few dim lights in his wake to turn off as he made his way to his bedroom.  

Though he was home, Chase still felt tense. He entered the bedroom, undressed and padded nude to the bathing room and straight into the shower/sauna. Setting the controls, he seated himself on part of the bench-like seat that was built into the wall and leaned back with a sigh. Steam immediately started to fill the enclosed cubicle, misting the opaque walls and his skin with moist, heated air.

Chase slowly relaxed, letting his thoughts wander in aimless patterns until they focused on that burst of energy that still resonated within him. He mentally explored the memory, while the memory physically aroused him. The steady beat of his heart increased while hot blood, driven by desire, pooled in his groin and pumped into veins that caused his cock to thicken and rise.

A low, rumbling growl reverberated in his chest. With eyes closed he wrapped long fingers around his rapidly swelling erection and pumped. Chase imagined a pair of plump, male lips enclosing his shaft, a hot tongue swirling over the stretched, satiny skin of his cock. The muscles in his abdomen and ass tightened, his hips moving with the rhythm of his stroking hand.

Each shallow breath he took filled his lungs with warm, steamy air. The dark silky hair on his chest, legs and arms was veiled with gossamer beads, settling like a warm blanket against his skin. Sweat broke out to run in slow, hot trickles, sending a shiver down his spine.

He tightened his fist and in the mist-filled silence his guttural groan was muffled, muted. Chase increased the speed of his strokes, lost to the building pressure and pleasure while his balls drew up tight to his body and prepared to unload. Unwilling to let this carnal bliss end so soon, he fought his climax, wrestling it down again and again. Instead of easing the grip of his pumping fist and slowing its speed, he growled his defiance and hung on, riding the wave higher and higher until it crested and he was plunged into the maelstrom of orgasm.

His shout echoed, his panting breaths stirring the steam in white billows that swirled and danced. Thick streams of hot semen jetted from the bulbous head of his cock and rained over his heaving chest and abdomen. The pleasure plunged in like a sharp knife, leaving him feeling replete, drained and temporarily robbed of strength.

Chase eased his strokes, slowly surfacing into awareness enough to open his eyes. He mindlessly gazed at the foreskin of his cock, dappled with plump drops of thickening come. It moved easily under now lazy fingers that pulled it up over the shiny, wet head of his cock and retreated when he pushed it down.

Sated, he sighed and released himself, pausing a moment to yawn before standing and turning off the sauna. Replacing steam with warm jets of water, he lazily washed and after drying, returned to the bedroom. The comfort of his bed beckoned and he wasted no time answering its call. Pulling back the covers, he settled in and was asleep in seconds flat.