His breath faltered as I moved up and down the line before taking his cock in my hand. I traced my finger along the tip. He was already throbbing from that touch. Leaning over to kiss him on the lips one more time, his whole body shook as I moved down and took him in my mouth.
Dylan had a huge cock. I licked the length of it, swirling my tongue along the tip. I wasn’t sure if I could get the whole thing in my mouth, but I was certainly going to try. Cupping his balls, I began moving back and forth. Dylan’s hips bucked under me as he cried out.
“Fuck.” I didn’t need to look back at him to know the word came through clenched teeth. My hips were moving too. Dylan pulled my body to his, sliding my pants away from my body as I continued to suck his cock. He slid his fingers up and down the length of my wet, pulsing sex with the same rhythm, like we were singing the same song. He circled my clit with his thumb, and I moaned against his shaft as he found the spot that made my whole body hum. He slid a finger up inside me, then another. I threw my head back and cried out. He was going to make me come with his fingers.
“Don’t hold back, Ari.” His voice was still strained, I already knew he was close. “You were meant to be wild.”
He pulled my hips up to him. Even though I couldn’t see his face, I knew what he was going to do. When he tongue slowly circled my clit, my body erupted. I let the waves of sensation rock me, coming completely apart as Dylan sucked. I lay my head on his stomach, panting, when I finished.
“Good girl.” He gently placed my legs down on the bed and stroked my hair while I caught my breath. “But now it’s my turn.”
Before I knew it he had me on my back. He sat beside me on the bed, running his fingers so lightly over my skin. Over my arms, down the length of my stomach, softly over each curve, then circling each breast. I was still trembling.
“You’re absolutely stunning.” He leaned in and kissed me tenderly on the lips before straddling me. Rolling back, his body was one long beautiful line as he ran the tip of his cock up and down my slit like he did with his fingers on the rest of my body. I was going to come again before he even fucked me.
Sliding in slowly, inch by inch, my body expanded to welcome him home. “Keep your eyes open, baby,” he said softly, his face inches above mine. “I want you to watch me while I fuck you.”
Dylan rocked his hips back and thrust into me slowly at first, then gaining power as he grabbed handfuls of my damp hair, collapsing on top of me while he moved. I dug my fingernails in his shoulders, trying to crawl inside of him the same way he was in me. We were truly one at that moment, and I never wanted to be apart.
His cock swelled and grew hot as he came inside me, and his body stilled. He was still inside me when he picked his head up to kiss me again on the lips, like none of that had ever happened. It might’ve been my favorite part of the whole thing.
Chapter Eleven
KAT’S CLAIMING CALLED for a celebration. She had time to come down that weekend, so we planned our second girls’ night out in three weeks.
This time, instead of feeling left out of the gossip, I finally had some of my own. I couldn’t wait to tell the girls about Dylan. Already, I missed him. We’d spent every night together since Monday, and I wanted to get back up to the mountain to shift again this weekend. But with my sister in town, that had to wait.
“Tell us everything!” Lindsay squealed as she slid into her seat at the high-topped table. We’d decided to go for margaritas tonight.
I opened my mouth to ask how she even knew, but my sister cut me off. “It’s so amazing, you guys!” Already lost in a Dylan haze, I almost forgot that we were here to celebrate Kat. I drew back and took a sip of my margarita and let her gush. “I mean, we’ve always had really amazing sex. I don’t know if it was because I came down here and he missed me, or because I was in heat but in the middle of, you know,” Kat blushed, “Nolan ran his fingernails down my back and ass.”
She hopped off of her stool and turned around, lifting her shirt. We weren’t the only shifters in the bar, and no one batted an eye at the three pinkish purple scars that ran down her back and disappeared into her pants.
Lindsay and Linnea leaned forward, oohing as they ran their fingers along the scar. Kat blushed and smiled at me. I was so happy for her. She and Nolan were perfect together. He wasn’t from our pride. He was a photographer, and she’d met him at a photoshoot in Milan or someplace equally exotic. They understood each other’s jobs, which sometimes sounded like a foreign language to me, they both loved to travel, and now they’d have each other forever.
“So what’s different now that you’re claimed?” Lindsay asked, leaning forward on her hands, completely enthralled with the idea of being in love.
Kat sat back down and licked some of the salt away from the rim of her drink. “Our connection is so much deeper now, like I can almost hear his thoughts. And the sex is surreal.” She sighed. “So I’m not the only one with news. Ari, tell us about this trainer!”
“You have a trainer?” Lindsay asked. “Not the trainer?”
“What do you mean, the trainer?” Kat raised an eyebrow. “Three hours away, and you’d think I was on another planet. Whatever you’re doing, it’s working. You look ten years younger already.”
“Leo’s twin brother who came back to town is a personal trainer.” Linnea raised her eyebrows over a sip of margarita. “So he can totally whoop Leo’s ass over this doe thing.”
Linnea had a one track mind. “Yeah, he’s my trainer.” I looked around the table at the three shocked open mouths. Excitement bubbled over. “And my mate.”
All three of them burst out laughing.
“What’s so funny?” I was totally confused. Half the time they didn’t even laugh at my jokes. I always had to explain them until they weren’t funny anymore.
“Ari.” Kat put her hand over mine and squeezed it. “I’m paying a hundred and fifty dollars for each session. He better be paying attention to you.”
“No.” I shook my head, feeling smaller every second. “He’s my mate.”
Lindsay and Linnea looked at each other, pressing their lips together to suppress laughter. “Listen, Ari, we know it’s been a long time, but—“
I cut Linnea off, pissed. “So are you saying I’m too old, or that I’m too fat? Or that I’m so hideous that someone like Dylan couldn’t possibly be my mate?”
“He’s twenty-five.” Linnea didn’t back down. “And you’re only training with him. You haven’t shifted in ages, so there’s no way you’d know for sure.”
“We shifted last weekend.” Everyone’s eyes widened. I sat back in my chair, arms folded across my chest.
“Are you sleeping with him?” Lindsay asked with a giggle. I nodded, wondering if I should elaborate. My cheeks burned, and my core was throbbing, already missing Dylan inside me. I decided to keep my mouth shut. “Nice.”
“Ari! You’ve only known this guy a week!” Kat gasped. “He’s taking advantage of you.”
“Why would he want to take advantage of me?” I asked the table. Like I expected, no one had an answer for that. “You’ve already established I’m not good enough to be his mate. It’s not like he’s going to drain my massive bank account or he needs a green card. He’s my mate. It’s different this time. I’m not so desperate that I don’t know the difference.”
“I think you’re moving awfully fast.” Kat frowned.
“I’m forty years old.” Like I needed to remind them. “And every single one of us has had a one night stand that we’ve never even talked to again. When it’s right, it’s right.”
“Has he claimed you?” Lindsay was the only one who was the least bit positive about this, even if she wanted the gossip to bring back to Soldier Mountain.
“Not yet.” I took a deep sip of my drink. “We’re waiting until I’m in heat.” Which happened less often with age.
“That’s why you were asking me about kids the other day.” Linnea leaned back in her chair, a satisfied smirk on her
face. “You’re worried you can’t have them. You’re scared you can’t keep your mate.”
Chapter Twelve
“WHAT TIME DO YOU HAVE to go back today?” I woke up as early as Kat the next morning, much to both of our surprise. “I’d really like for you to meet Dylan.”
“Ari.” She sighed and looked down at the coffee mug in her hands. “I have to head home soon, I have plans with Nolan tonight. But I do want to meet him. Soon. I’m worried about you.”
“Don’t be,” I snapped. “You guys are really pissing me off. I don’t understand why there’s a question. Has anyone ever told you that Nolan’s not your mate?”
“No.” She scoffed, hardly able to hold in her frustration. I knew how she felt. “I thought this was going to be good for you. I wanted you to start doing things. But within reason. It’s totally unethical that your trainer is sleeping with you.”
“He’s my mate!” I couldn’t remember the last time I growled at my sister. We never fought much growing up, since I was eight years older than her. “This is what you wanted for me. To get out and live again. I’m doing that.”
“If you think so.” She smiled sadly. “I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
I COULDN’T WAIT TO shift that afternoon. I drove too fast through the curvy mountain roads on my way to Dylan’s house. Tension knotted everything in my body, and the best way to get rid of it was going to be to totally let go of everything human.
“I think you should talk to your brother,” I said as I wrapped my arms around Dylan the minute I got to the cabin. He didn’t have a shirt on, and I nuzzled my cheek against his chest. His hand came to my back, almost protectively, like he knew something was wrong without me even having to say it.
“There’s nothing to talk about,” Dylan rumbled, then led me over to couch.
“That’s not true.” I ran my fingers along his beard as I talked. “It’s been years. Were things really that bad between the two of you?”
Dylan nodded, staring into space like a movie reel of his life was playing before him.
“The pride is going to challenge me.” The words hurt to say out loud. “They don’t think I can keep you as a mate.”
He pulled me in tighter, growling. “I’m not going to let that happen.”
“That’s why I think you should talk to your brother.” I tipped his face back to mine. “We can put all this challenge stuff to rest.”
“The challenge is scheduled for the next full moon.” It was tradition for the pride to use a lunar calendar to track important events. “This isn’t about Leo and his stupid choices. It’s about me. I need to do this.”
I pulled away from him, frustrated that he wouldn’t see it any other way. “Ari,” he said softly. “This is for you, too. I’m fighting for you.”
Respect. It’s all either of us wanted.
“You shouldn’t even have to.” I shook my head. “It’s foolish.”
Dylan kissed me slowly, pulling my bottom lip away when he drew back. “It is. But I need to protect our future. I have more to think about than me now.”
Even though snow still clung to the earth, it was one of the first days that actually felt like spring. The sun kissed my skin as I stood in the yard. Dylan didn’t have a visible neighbor, so I had no problem stripping bare before I shifted. In such a short amount of time, I went from being completely ashamed of my body to being totally comfortable in my own skin.
The girls might think I was delusional about Dylan, but anyone who could transform my way of thinking like that knew what he was doing. He had an effect on me. It didn’t matter if it was in the gym or in the bedroom. It was something I didn’t think anyone could ever give me. He was showing me how to love myself.
“It’s tempting to stay out here like this,” Dylan said with his lips on mine. “But I can’t wait to shift with you now that we know what we are to each other.”
“Go.” I slapped his ass, my hand not moving away. He had a point. A very good point. I stepped away from him. Or else we’d be rolling in the snow as humans. “You first, and I’ll join you, like last time.” I might feel good in my skin, but shifting was still something I needed to do without an audience. And we needed to do it so I could gain control of the process instead of it controlling me.
Dylan’s smile promised things that made me purr. He placed one more kiss on my head, and then turned and ran down the hill, falling on all fours before his body began to shake, the fur breaking through his skin. Even shifting, his body moved with absolute grace, a fluid motion.
He was meant to be wild.
The animal inside me came back to life, the heat pooling at my core felt like something as primal. Purring, I dropped on down on my hands and knees, already rolling around in the snow as my skin melted away. My fur warmed me as it closed around my body.
Flipping onto my stomach, I got up and trotted down to him. I loved the way his eyes glittered in the sunlight in his lion form. They were full of love and I knew it was all for me. I nipped at his snout playfully, and he did the same, batting me softly with his huge paw.
After one quick nibble at my ear, Dylan was off, weaving around the trees away from the regular path. I leapt into the snow drifts, skidding on the slick dead leaves underneath. I wasn’t so concerned with catching Dylan as I was with actually experiencing my cougar form without any fear. I knew I was safe here, and I could finally explore and play.
Dylan realized I didn’t chase after him, and he doubled back. “What are you doing?” he asked, rolling on his back in front of me.
I curled in a ball, pushing myself into his body as I lay beside him. I didn’t answer him right away. He wouldn’t have heard anything over my purring, anyway.
“Playing in the snow.” I pushed a little bit at him with my paw, and his tail twitched, hitting my leg.
“It feels good, doesn’t it?” He nuzzled my neck. “To let go.”
“So good.”
We were quiet again for a few minutes. “Do you want to hunt?”
My body tensed and Dylan already knew my answer. All I could think of was that doe getting blindsided by the pride. Ripped to shreds for sport. “No. I’m not ready for that.”
And I didn’t think I ever would be. I could never rip another being limb from limb, and be responsible for its last heart beat. I’ll stick to my ding dongs, thank you. It was the one part of being a cougar that I would never be able to embrace, and I was fine with that.
Dylan nodded then nudged me, flipping me over onto my back. We wrestled in the snow, nipping and batting at each other, purring and mewling until the shadows lengthened and the light faded to gray.
“Let’s head back,” Dylan suggested, standing up and shaking the snow out of his fur. His tail snapped my haunch. “We can continue inside.” I trotted beside him until the cabin came back into view.
“Good idea.” Without the sun, it was starting to get cold, and all this wrestling and rolling around in the snow was getting me really roused up. It was time to shift and do something about it.
Dylan’s shift back to human was seamless. He sat next to me in the snow and rubbed the fur on my back while I trembled. “When is this going to get easier?” I asked him. My body shook, but I was still very much cougar.
“It will.” His voice was so reassuring. “Something’s different, Ari. Your scent’s changed.”
“Oh yeah?” One of those things only shifters could understand, talking about each other’s scent. I could never do this with a human boyfriend. Most of them smelled like too much cologne covering up beer farts, anyway. “What is it? Yours is snow and pine.”
“Wildflowers.” Dylan purred. “In bloom. You’re in heat.”
Chapter Thirteen
THOSE WORDS WERE ENOUGH to send my body temperature rocketing and everything else twisting and turning. The fur fell away, my skin and human features breaking through. The shift may have come swiftly with the promise of mating, but not without pain. I howled as my fur ripped apart and
the skin burned my muscles as it covered it.
I’d ignored this for so long. All the little triggers and clues my body sent my brain were little more than a call to go buy batteries in the last couple years. All the emotions coursed through my veins, the need for Dylan overwhelming. The missing piece of me that I always knew I’d find.
“It’s okay, Ari.” Dylan looked like he wanted to touch me, to do something, anything to make these easier. I wanted him to hold me right now, but he couldn’t. There was nothing he could do. “You’re doing great.”
Once I was human again, I lay in the snow, curled in a tight ball. “It hurts.” Every muscle in my body screamed for the fire to be put out, and my bones ached down to the marrow. The two sensations fought each other for my attention. I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open. My brain wanted to shut down in defense of the pain. “So much.”
Dylan scooped me up and carried me back into the house. I felt so small in his arms, and his touch was the most comforting thing. Wrapping me in the throw blanket on the couch, he set me down on the cushion, smoothing my filthy hair away from my face. “I’ll be right back.”
I didn’t want to pass out like I did last time we shifted. I had to be stronger than this. Last night I learned I had no real friends in the pride, and I wasn’t going to let Linnea beat me simply because I was weak. Dylan had told me that the challenge was scheduled for the full moon, and that could be any time. I hadn’t thought to look up at the sky when we were outside, too consumed in Dylan to care. I had to build my stamina fast.
Dylan returned to the living room. He still hadn’t gotten dressed, not that I was complaining. The rock hard lines of his body roused me back to life, and the heat built in my core when I realized he was as ready for me as...
Mated to the Cougar Page 6
