Author Charlie Richards

Giving love and imagination free reign

Now Available at eXtasy Books!

Finding Balance

Wolves of Stone Ridge: Book Five

Todd Abernathy spent three weeks in a cage. Experimented on by scientists, he retreated deep into his wolf to survive. The night of his rescue, the scent of his mate was the only thing that convinced him to return to human form. Small for a wolf shifter, it didn’t surprise Todd when his brother, Phillip, insisted on joining the local wolf pack with him. His larger, younger brother had felt responsible for him since puberty. But Phillip couldn’t help him find the mate he’d scented, and when Todd finally figured out that Detective Lyle Sullivan was the man he was searching for, the human had been captured by the same men who’d experimented on Todd.

Lyle’s escape almost comes too late, because the experiments done to him scramble his DNA, nearly killing him. The only way to save Lyle is to complete the experimental procedure the scientists started on him. Todd’s relief that the recovering Lyle recognizes him as his mate is short-lived. Lyle starts exhibiting increasingly aggressive and dangerous tendencies. Can Todd find a way to help his mate accept what’s happening to him and teach him how to co-exist with the new creature living inside his mind with him? Or will Lyle lose himself to the beast and force his friends to put him down?

Excerpt - Finding Balance

The excerpt below contain explicit adult language and sexual content.



    “Who is he?”

Lyle forced the words out of his dry, scratchy throat and struggled to keep conscious long enough to wait for the answer. Every time he’d managed to drag his mind to wakefulness, he’d seen the cute brunet that reminded him of an angel. Sometimes he’d be singing softly to Lyle, holding his hand. Sometimes he’d be reading a book to him, although he couldn’t remember even one of the stories. And sometimes, like now, he’d be curled up in a chair by his bed fast asleep.

But he didn’t know the man.

“His name is Todd Abernathy.” Doctor Ailean Carmichael crossed the small room and started checking equipment. “Welcome back,” he added with a smile.

Lyle barely managed to crinkle his brow, but even that movement sent pain coursing through his skull. He couldn’t place the name. “Should I know him?” The idea that he’d lost some of his memories in the hell-hole he’d been kept in for however long it was sent spikes of panic through him.

Monitors beeped and Ailean spun from where he was reading vitals and leaned over Lyle. He found his gaze pinned by the shifter’s light brown eyes. “Take slow, deep breathes. You’ve never met him. He’s pack.”

Pack. And he’d never met him. Relief slowly seeped into Lyle and his eyes slid closed. “What’s he doing here?” he scraped out. Then he forced his eyes back open as he stared at Todd in a new light. “He looks a little small to be a bodyguard.”

Ailean chuckled, straightening. “He’s not a bodyguard.” Sighing, Ailean followed Lyle’s gaze and stared at Todd. “Todd is one of the shifters you all rescued from the warehouse,” he explained. “He stayed in the area because he recognized his mate’s scent. It just took him a while to find you.”

His head swam and he swallowed hard. What the hell was Ailean telling him? “Huh?”

A spoon filled with a couple ice chips appeared before him. He opened, gratefully accepting the offering. He rolled the ice around his mouth twice before letting it settle on his tongue and slowly melt. It hurt to swallow the liquid, but the moisture was well worth the discomfort.

“Todd is convinced you’re his mate, Lyle, and from the way you’ve been reacting to his presence, I believe he’s correct,” Ailean said, holding out another spoonful of ice.

“I’ve been unconscious,” he whispered. “I haven’t been awake to react,” he denied before taking the offered ice again.

“Sometimes, how we respond unconsciously is very telling,” Ailean commented. “You’re much calmer when Todd’s here, and since he refuses to leave, it has worked out very well.”

He could feel his eyes getting heavy again. He wouldn’t be able to stay awake much longer. Lyle decided he’d try to figure out the whole mate issue later. “How long?” he manged to ask.

Ailean smiled sadly. “You were held captive for two weeks. You were in Colin City Hospital for seven days. We moved you to Declan and Lark’s place two days ago, which is when I stopped giving you sedatives. Grady will be pleased you’ve finally woken. We were getting concerned.” Moving away, he checked the monitors again before crossing back to him. “Are you in any pain? How do you… feel?”

The way the doctor asked the questions raised Lyle’s internal alarms, but he was too tired to work it out. “Like I’ve been fucked, and not in a good way,” he muttered. His eyes slid closed. There was so much to think about, but he needed a nap first. Just a short one.

Adult Excerpt - Finding Balance

    ....a downstairs door slamming jerked Todd out of the pleasant dream. To his shock, heat still enveloped his dick and his eyes popped open.

A startled gasp escaped him at the sight before him. Lyle had woken early, slipped out of bed, and now pleasured Todd’s cock. His pants were truly open, his boxers shoved down, and Lyle’s hot, wet mouth sucked hard on his shaft.

“Oh, god, Lyle,” he groaned. “You look so good with your lips around my dick.”

The man between his thighs lifted his gaze to meet his, lifting a brow in amusement. Seconds later, he broke the gaze and swallowed Todd’s cock to the root. He cried out in ecstasy as pleasure shot up his spine, ricocheted off his skull and slammed back through his body to his balls. He trembled, his hands convulsing on the grip of the chair as he struggled not to come.

Sensing his impending release, Lyle wrapped large hands under his ass, lifted him from the chair, and deposited him on the bed, all without releasing Todd’s dick. He couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe, and sure as hell couldn’t raise any protest when his clothes were torn from his body, literally. He heard fabric tear and shoes were tossed to god knew where.

A tongue massaging his glans almost had Todd shooting, but Lyle’s rough hand cupped his nuts and tugged them away from his body, easing his impending orgasm. Lyle gave one more hard, slow suck on Todd’s cock and then he let it slip from his lips with an audible pop.

Trying desperately to catch his breath, his eyes widened when he watched Lyle crawl up his body, eying him like a predator would its prey. “I want to lick and suck every inch of your gorgeous body, Todd. I want to nibble your flesh and leave my mark on you.” His voice deepened to a low growl. “I want to spread your ass open and sink my cock in so deep you’ll feel me in your throat.”

Lyle’s head lowered and he nuzzled Todd’s neck, breathing deeply. Todd tilted his neck, giving the man greater access to the delicate tendons in his throat, submitting completely to his mate. A shudder worked through him as he felt Lyle’s tongue lick a long line up his throat. When Lyle settled his bigger body onto him, chest to chest, thigh to thigh, and cock to cock, he couldn’t hold back a deep moan and a large dollop of pre-cum oozed from the head of his dick in anticipation.

Rocking his cock against him, their pre-ejaculate easing the way between them, Lyle set up a slow, sensuous grind. It wasn’t nearly enough to get him off, but tremors raced through his body none-the-less, making it difficult to focus on Lyle’s next words.

“If you don’t want that, angel, stop me now, otherwise in about two minutes this cock,” Lyle thrust his hips a little harder in emphasis, the friction making Todd’s breath hitch, “is going to be buried deep in your tight ass.”

“Yes,” he managed to hiss. “Please, Lyle. Sink your thick cock in me. I want to feel it splitting me wide open.”

A deep growl rumbled through the chest of the man above him. Lyle’s eyes gleamed with heat and need. For a second they shifted, revealing the vertical slit of his animal. Then Lyle blinked, and his eyes once again returned to their human shape.

Before Todd could gather enough thought to question Lyle, the man’s hips began moving again, grinding against him in swift glides, his intention clear. “Come for me, my lovely.” His head lowered and nuzzled his cheek for several thrusts before Lyle nibbled and sucked on the sensitive skin below Todd’s ear. “Then I’m going to line your hole with your sweet cream. I’m going to use it to stretch your ass, and with our semen soothing the way, I’m going to bury my dick in you.”

The erotic images his mate’s words created sent Todd over the edge, his breath leaving him in a long, low groan.

Lyle continued to grind against him, his movements encouraging even more cum to shoot from his cock. When he finally stopped coming, three ejaculates later, he felt like his balls had been drained and turned inside out, and it was the best feeling he’d had in so, so long.

His eyes slipped closed, his breathing labored, as he floated in a post-orgasmic bliss. His senses barely registered when Lyle shifted above him, bent Todd’s knees, and forced his thighs wider.

“Look at me, Todd,” Lyle ordered gruffly, and Todd forced his eyes open. He grinned at the burning lust he saw glowing in Lyle’s green eyes. His mate may not yet believe he was a shifter, but Lyle felt the mating pull none-the-less. Todd’s cock twitched as blood once again flowed south and began to fill his shaft again. He gripped the backs of his thighs, spreading himself open even further as he pulled his legs to either side of his chest.

Lyle rocked back to his knees, one hand languidly stroking his thick, eight inch dick as he looked his fill. Todd blushed, his gaze riveted to the hand holding the cock he desperately wanted to fill him. “What a truly stunning sight you are, Todd, all spread out and wanton for me. Your cum glistens on your curls and abs. Your body flushed from pleasure.” A smug smile flooded Lyle’s features with hunger as he ran the fingertip of his free hand up Todd’s renewed cock, tracing the throbbing vein. “You’re hard again just at the idea of me sinking my thick dick into your tight ass, aren’t you. Do you want this, lovely?” he asked, waving his cock like a flag for a second. “Do you want this filling you?”

Lyle fell silent, and jerking his gaze upward to meet his hot stare, Todd realized the man actually expected an answer. He had to swallow twice before working enough moisture into his throat to answer. “Yes.”

His smile turned into a grin. “You want my cum to spill in you? Fill you up?”

This time he answered without hesitation, the dirty talk making him even hotter and loosening his own tongue. “Yes, Lyle. I want that. My hole aches for you to shove your perfect cock inside and split me open,” he whispered. “I want to feel it move inside me. Let me clench my muscles around you and milk your cock to completion. I want to feel your cum flood my ass, feel it drip out of my ass and down my thighs, marking me as yours.”

From the way Lyle paused in stroking his shaft, Todd worried he’d said too much, gone too far. He fervently prayed Lyle wouldn’t stop now. Then Lyle let out a growl, scooped up a dollop of his cum, and rubbed it over the muscles guarding his back door. A cry of pleasure-pain burst from Todd’s throat as Lyle shoved in one finger into his ass. It wasn’t enough.

“More. Please, more. I need…”