“Please,” she said to Darius. “If you stay here, you’ll be put in a cage before any of your lions are! You’ll become a test subject for the government!”
Darius grunted, slowly stepping back from the fallen young lion and turning to Lacy. “And you think I’ll sit there quietly while they stick needles in my butt and attach electrodes to my nipples?”
“Those are some interesting thoughts on what it means to become a test subject,” Lacy said with a smile. “But no, I don’t think you’ll let anyone do anything to you! That’s why we need to run! Or else it’ll be you killing humans on camera! Don’t you see!”
“I’m in complete control of my animal,” Darius grunted, the pride in his tone frustrating Lacy almost as much as it aroused her. “I will control it all. Get out of here, Lacy. I can’t worry about you along with all this.”
Lacy exhaled hard, and then she just sat down on her haunches and looked up at him, her bobcat licking its snout and then nonchalantly beginning to groom itself.
“What are you doing?” growled Darius. “I told you to get out of here!”
“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m grooming myself,” said Lacy. “Oh, look at that obstinate tuft of fur sticking up like a mohawk! How embarrassing! There we go. That’s so much better.” She looked up at him, feeling the stubbornness rise up from the woman in her. Her bobcat was more than happy to groom itself, its mate by its side. It couldn’t give a damn about media coverage, iPhone cameras, or anything else really. “You could use a little grooming yourself. Want me to—”
“I said go!” roared the lion, turning and facing Lacy head on, its deep rumble sending shivers through her.
“My, we have a temper, don’t we?” said Lacy, her voice lilting and sickeningly sweet in a way that she could tell was driving Darius nuts. “That’s going to be a problem if we’re to be mates, you know.”
“We are mates,” growled the lion. “And you will do what I say, when I say, without argument.”
Lacy snorted, closing one eye and holding up her right paw. “Is this toenail chipped? Do you know of any good nail salons in Casablanca?”
Darius almost lost his mind, and his eyes glazed gold like fire as he dug his claws into the thick carpet like he was doing everything he could to not launch himself at her and force her to submit.
“In case it isn’t clear,” she said firmly, holding his gaze with all the confidence she could muster even though her bobcat wanted to lower its eyes and give in to its powerful mate, “I’m not going anywhere without you. You want to stay here? Fine. But I’m staying too, and there’s really nothing you can do about it. Sorry.”
“Lacy,” the lion whispered. “You’re not making sense. You’re—”
“Oh, so if I don’t do what you say, it means I’m a hysterical woman who’s not making sense? Maybe I have my period! That’s probably why I’m talking hysterical nonsense!”
Darius snorted in surprise. “Are we fighting?” he said, turning his head to the side and closing one eye. “Because that’s generally not a good idea when your mate is a lion, you know.”
“My mate is a moron, far as I can tell,” Lacy muttered. “Hear that? Jeeps. Trucks. Armored vehicles. That’s the Moroccan military pulling up outside. The window is closing, Great King.” She gestured at the billowing velvet curtain behind them. “And there’s the door. I suggest we use it.”
Darius took a long, deep breath, his gold eyes transforming as Lacy saw the anger slowly melt away, leaving behind what she swore was admiration. It almost embarrassed her, and she finally blinked and looked down, her bobcat purring from the unspoken approval of its mate. God, who knew her cat would turn out to be such a pussy in front of its mate! Good thing Lacy the woman was anything but!
“Stay close behind me,” whispered the lion, narrowing its eyes as the voices of the Moroccan military officers came through to them. The crowd had been ordered out of the arena, and soon enough the place would be swarmed by men with guns—men who were dangerous simply because they’d be scared at dealing with something they didn’t understand. “We get in a fight, you head for the jungle.”
“Jungle? You know that Morocco is mostly desert,” Lacy said as the lion broke into a brisk run and her bobcat raced after him. “We’ll have to head south to find jungle.”
“Then South it is,” roared the lion as they burst through the velvet curtains and tore through the winding pathways of the circus village, their Shifter-animals moving like streaks of lightning, like bullets of pure cosmic energy. “Stay close, Kitten. Stay close.”
6
“Any closer and I won’t be able to breathe,” Lacy gasped, her breath warm against Darius’s bare chest.
Darius grinned as he looked down at his mate cuddled into his body. She was turned on her side, the curve of her hips looking smooth and beautiful as her thick thighs shuddered with the rumble of the freight train they’d hopped aboard so they could head South, deeper into Africa, in search of the safety of its vast, wild jungles.
“Desert nights are cold,” said Darius. “I just don’t want you to get sick.”
“Then you should have listened to me when I said we should stop and get some clothes,” said Lacy, frowning up at him even though a smile was pulling at her lips.
“We’re never wearing clothes again,” Darius said. “We’re heading to the jungle, away from the fetters of human civilization. Besides, you burned all my clothes, remember?”
Lacy giggled. “Why did you have so many T-Shirts with heavy metal band logos on them? What are you, a seventeen-year-old angst-ridden kid from the suburbs?”
Darius dug his fingers into the soft flesh of her side, making her squirm. “That’s prejudicial,” he said, his breath catching as he felt his cock move against her bare skin. He’d been hard for hours, but somehow he’d been content to just lay with his mate, feel the softness of her smooth skin, marvel at how the contours of her body seemed to fit so perfectly with the ridges and hard lines of his massive, muscled frame. Images of the moment when he’d finally peel her off him, flip her over, and claim her the way his animal wanted were pushing through in his mind, but he pushed back against them. He could smell Lacy’s wetness, feel the heat between her legs, sense her desire to be taken. But somehow that made him want to hold back even more. This woman challenged him, and he wanted her to beg, wanted her to get on her knees, raise that magnificent ass, and plead to be taken.
“Angst,” Darius whispered, leaning close to her face, his breath making the loose strands of her brown tresses shiver. Slowly he cupped her ass with his big right hand, squeezing firmly as he felt her breath quicken, her heart beat faster, that telltale musk of her wetness rise up to him like a beacon. “Is that what you’re feeling right now, waiting for me to claim you? Yearning for me to claim you?”
Her breath caught again as he spoke, but she just blinked and then looked at him with wide-eyed innocence. “Nope. I’m just fine. How about you?”
Darius grinned. “Oh, I’m just chilling. Thinking about baseball.”
“Is that right?” Lacy said, her round cheeks blushing bright red as the setting sun shone through the open door of the freight train car.
“Yup.”
“That must be why it feels like there’s a bat pressed up against me,” Lacy whispered. She broke eye contact and blinked rapidly, as if she was genuinely shocked at what she’d just said.
Darius laughed as he squeezed her ass tighter, feeling his cock go to full mast. Who was this woman?! She had so much boldness, courage, and defiance. But she also seemed shy, bashful, almost ashamed when it came to matters that should seem so natural. Matters of sex. Mating. The body.
“So you got a guy waiting for you back in . . . wait, where are you from again?” Darius said.
Lacy shook her head against his body. “Colorado. And no, there’s no guy. Why would you ask me that?
Is there a woman in your life? Ohmygod, there is, isn’t there? Who is it? One of the trapeze artists? The bearded woman from the freak-show? One of the clowns?”
Darius laughed. “You’re the clown,” he said, grunting as he pushed his nose against her open hair and sniffed. “You even smell like a clown.”
“I smell like a clown? Wow, you are really taking romance to a new level here. Get away from me, you freak.”
“Sorry. No. My lion won’t allow it. We’re going to be joined together at the hip for all of eternity.”
“Sounds uncomfortable,” Lacy said with a giggle and a snuggle. “How will we walk if we’re joined together at the hip?”
“There’ll be no walking,” said Darius firmly. “Just rolling around in the jungles, our hips pressed against each other as the animals stare at us.”
Lacy giggled again. “You like having an audience, don’t you?”
“Love it,” said Darius. “I love being up there in the spotlight.” He paused and took a breath, looking down at his mate. “I think you like it too.”
“I do not,” she said quickly. But then she scrunched up her face and closed one eye. “Well, maybe I do. It’s kind of a rush to stand up in front of a crowd.”
Darius nodded as he thought back to how his mate had stood there in the ring, riling up the crowd. But then his smile tightened when he remembered how that crowd had turned into something like a bloodthirsty mob! What the hell had happened?! It had to be those dark Shifters—Murad’s Shifters—who’d done that. But how? Why?
“What are you thinking?” came Lacy’s voice over the sound of the train rattling along the tracks.
“You know what I’m thinking,” he said softly. “And I don’t want to be thinking that. I want to be thinking of nothing but us. The two of us roaming free in the jungles of Africa, raising our cubs, strutting through the land like a king and queen. The way nature intended. We’re animals, Lacy. Why can’t we just live like animals?”
“Because we’re not just animals, and you know that,” Lacy said against his chest. “We’re blessed with human emotions, but that’s also a curse sometimes. It means we can’t turn away from the world. We won’t turn away from the world.”
“I know,” Darius said. “And that’s why I love you.”
“Wait, what?” she said, her heart pounding so loud he could hear it like a drum. “You . . . you love me?”
Darius blinked as he felt his own heart hammer away inside him, its beat in perfect rhythm with his mate’s. He hadn’t planned to say the L word. Hell, he didn’t even realize he’d said it! It just came out, and now it was out there!
Suddenly Darius felt a strange vulnerability, something he’d never felt in his entire life! He’d never experienced any teenage crushes, never had to deal with the pain of unrequited love, never basked in the joy of being in love with someone who felt the same way. And here he was, holding a woman in his arms—a woman that his lion knew was his mate—and he was terrified!
“No, of course I don’t love you,” he said quickly. “I mean, we barely know each other.”
“Right,” said Lacy, blinking as the color drained from her face like she was as scared as he was. “I don’t love you either. We can’t be in love. It takes time to fall in love. Six weeks at least.”
“Six weeks? Is that official?”
“I read it in Cosmo,” said Lacy with that wide-eyed look of playful innocence. “It takes six weeks of daily contact to fall in love.”
Darius grunted as he slowly massaged her large rump. “What if we squeeze six weeks worth of contact into one day? Would that make us pass the love test?”
Lacy giggled, and then she gasped as Darius slowly parted her rear crack with his strong fingers, keeping his hand there as his cock throbbed against her thighs. “Yes, but I don’t know if that’s the sort of contact Cosmo was talking about. I don’t know if . . . oh, God, Darius! That feels . . . it feels . . .”
“Feels like love?” Darius whispered with a wicked grin as he slowly traced his fingers around her circular rim from behind.
“You’re sick,” she moaned. “Perverted. There’s no way you’re going to . . . oh, that’s . . . that’s . . . oh!”
Darius groaned as he slowly pushed his middle finger into her rear hole, and he trembled as he felt Lacy’s thighs spread like she couldn’t hold them together any longer. Her scent was so strong in the cool evening air that Darius’s vision blurred, and he rolled on top of her, his finger driving deep into her from behind as his weight pressed down on her body.
“You know,” he whispered, blinking as he tried to focus on her face. Slowly his vision returned, and he smiled when he saw how her eyes were rolling up in her head as the heat rippled through her body. “I haven’t even kissed you yet.”
“That’s OK,” she muttered. “I didn’t expect you to be a gentleman.”
Darius grinned wide, bringing his lips so close to hers that he could almost taste her. He curled his middle finger inside her, making her groan and open her mouth wide. “Wait, this isn’t gentlemanly behavior? Oh well, what can you do. I’m just a circus freak. A travelling sideshow.” He paused as his smile faded. “An animal,” he whispered.
His lion roared inside him, and Darius felt the energy of his beast rip through every fiber of his being, roiling his blood until his head was spinning. He wanted to flip her over and take her so hard her screams would be heard all the way across the Serengeti. But for some reason he was holding back, as if he sensed he needed to start slow with her. Why? He could sense her bobcat’s heat, smell Lacy’s need, feel her wetness oozing from her slit as he pressed his cock lengthwise against her. Why was he holding back? She was already submitting to him. He could feel it. He could take her any way he wanted. In the three days he’d known her he’d already fantasized about spanking her ass, spreading her wide from behind, making her hiss and snarl for him while he filled her again and again with his seed. So why was he—
“Darius,” she whispered, her eyelids fluttering as she looked into his eyes. “I need to tell you something. I . . . I’m . . . oh, God, it’s so embarrassing! I’m in my thirties, and I’ve never . . . never had sex before! I’m a . . . a . . .”
“I know,” said Darius without hesitation. And he did know. His body knew. The man inside him knew.
“You know? How?”
“Because I am too,” he whispered, a shudder passing through him when he revealed what he’d never said out loud to anyone—not even himself. “I’m yours, Lacy. I always was, even before I knew you existed. I’m yours, and you’re mine. Mine, you hear?”
And then, as the sun dipped below the horizon and the train chugged and rattled its way across the Kenyan border, he kissed her. He kissed her softly, slowly, with a tenderness that somehow contained all the power of his lion. He kissed her. By God, he kissed her.
7
His kiss sent shivers through her body, and Lacy felt her bobcat roar inside her as it retreated to the far corner of her consciousness, content to let the human woman enjoy the moment. And what a moment it was: The feeling of his thick finger inside her rear while his tongue slowly pushed into her mouth was a dizzying mixture of opposites, like he was dominating her while at the same time submitting to her, being rough and tender all at once, giving her what the horny animal needed while making sure the woman in her felt protected, safe . . . loved?
She moaned softly as she kissed him back, letting her mouth fall open as Darius pressed his heavy body down on hers. The rhythm of the train felt in perfect harmony with their hearts, and she moaned again and then gasped as she felt her mate’s hunger for her begin to rise.
It took a moment for her to realize the strangeness of what they’d just admitted to one another: That they were each other’s first! It seemed weird, but Lacy knew that was just the human brain talking, the brain of a woman who’d been reading Cosmo si
nce she was eleven years old, a woman who of course understood that sex was natural and should be had by every consenting woman, as much and as often and with as many different partners as she chose.
Then why hadn’t she chosen anyone?
Why hadn’t he chosen anyone?
“Is this real, Darius?” she whispered, her eyes suddenly going wide as a terrible fear whipped through her that perhaps they were dead or this was all a dream or a spell or some power that those dark Shifters were using on them. “Are we real?”
“What are you talking about?” Darius muttered, drawing back from the kiss and looking deep into her eyes. “This is the only thing that’s real, Lacy. The only thing guaranteed for a Shifter. His fated mate. Everything else in our lives is just window dressing, just the universe playing its games as it brings us together. Now. Here. Forever.”
Lacy smiled as she felt that fear dissolve with his words, felt herself dissolve into his eyes of liquid gold, felt her body yearn to merge with his, take his seed, bear his cubs. “That’s pretty romantic for a circus freak,” she whispered. Then she felt his finger curl inside her rear and she gasped, her eyes rolling back in her head. “But that . . . that’s most certainly not!”
“You can take the freak out of the circus, but you can’t take the circus out of the freak,” said Darius with a wicked grin as he leaned in for another kiss.
Lacy turned her head so she could snort with laughter. “OK, that doesn’t even make sense!”
“Oh, yes, it does,” growled Darius, rolling his tongue down along her neck, coating her bare breasts with his clean saliva like he was marking her. Then he opened his jaws wide and took her pert nipple into his mouth, clamping down his lips and sucking so hard she wailed in pleasure. “Close your eyes and think about it while I do some investigating,” he gasped just before moving over to give her other nipple some attention.
Tamed for the Lion Page 6
