Cougar

by Cougar (lit)

  I met his hooded golden Shifter gaze and latched onto his lower lip.

  He growled, closing his eyelids, and allowed me to suck his tender flesh.

  But I wanted everything. And strangely enough, needed it. Now. I bucked my hips against his waist and released his lip.

  His mouth captured mine, forcefully. Hungrily. He thrust his tongue between my teeth. Tasting me. Investigating every curve hidden from everyone's view. Moaning a note of possession.

  Was it wrong to feel safe? The way he made me feel. And amazingly hot and hungry. I couldn't find a place on his muscled body that provided a good handhold though. So I feverishly groped and grasped at his flexing muscles.

  He rubbed his stubbled cheek along mine like a cat marking its territory and slid his body downward, inch by glorious inch. His mouth working my skin, squeezing and sucking sections, finally to nip at each spot before moving lower.

  To the bulge of my breasts.

  So goddamned low that anticipation stole away with my breath.

  Yes. The nipple. Gods, I let my legs fall away to allow him to move easily.

  His fingers tickled the closure of my bra open where the lower curve of both my breasts almost rubbed together, then he angled his scraping beard across the rise of my left breast and rubbed a circle around the taut nipple with the stiff hairs of his chin.

  I know. Because I couldn't stop watching him lick and kiss my body. My groin ached so damned badly that I had to watch. Had to know where in the hell he was going when he should have been ripping off my pants to thrust what had to be the biggest damned erection west of the Mississippi River inside me. Anything to keep me on the bed in total compliance.

  Salvation never came in a more amazing package.

  Goodbye roving Normals and tyrant Normal warlords. I needed Jackal. And nothing could ever convince me I made a mistake after he began paying homage to my curves. Especially since he made love to me when he could have just taken what he wanted.

  His lips locked around my nipple's beaded knot.

  Oh sweet life and breath.

  He sucked my soul out of that aching point.

  My body arched into the pressure, trembling and throbbing.

  He growled.

  If that was a warning, I couldn't stop squirming.

  He snarled hot breath against that nipple's aching peak and met my gaze with ravenous golden eyes.

  Gods, I wanted him devouring every inch of me. I think he could read my mind. He nipped at the nub of my other nipple and sank all but his attentive watchful gaze from my view beneath the bulge of that breast.

  Down. He kissed down across my ribs.

  All I could do was hiss my approval.

  Until he lapped at my navel.

  I ached so damned badly my inner channel clamped mindlessly at the promise of his possessive growls.

  I tried to work my hands down to the button of my pants. But he swiped them away with a pinch of warning in his assessing yellow gaze. It's like he fed on my reaction to his every move.

  His fingers slid beneath my waistband at each side of my sides.

  Gently. Lovingly. Teasingly. "Jackal," I groaned and wriggled my hips against his touch to encourage he shimmy my pants down my legs.

  He kissed a warm trail along the edge of my waistband between his thumbs.

  Right beneath my navel.

  Then he agonizingly fumbled with the button at my waist.

  I was such a squirming mess. I clutched at the brown blanket beneath me and rocked my head side to side.

  At last, he opened my pants and slid his fingers' knuckles-deep beneath my panties. Caressing me like an enormous hunk of gold he hoarded for his eyes alone.

  The way his palms encircled my hips locked me where he wanted me.

  What was he doing?

  He watched me still. And sighed tumultuously. His hands slipped out of my panties to peel my pants away from my undergarment. Only to jerk the course cotton down to my knees, turning to my boots, yanking each one off, and then each pant leg.

  Come on. I'm dying.

  He stripped his pants off.

  Yes, that was the biggest damned erection west of the Mississippi. And that corded body framing his jutting hard-on snuffed any thoughts I had of running for freedom.

  Just get my panties off. I fumbled with the elasticized edge of my panties at my hip.

  He growled and shoved my hands away.

  "Hurry," I snarled. He damned well better.

  He shoved my knees up to my elbows and pressed my thighs to my ribs, pinning my hips to the bed with his navel, hovering with a stare that could frighten even the largest of brutes. "Mine."

  Oh yes.

  "Yes," I concurred. "Yours, Jackal." Anything to get him to take off my panties. To claim me by thrusting the iron rod he rubbed against the crease of my ass inside me. To end the freaking torture.

  His weight lifted as he slid down to rub his cheek along my thigh. "You're all mine, Kitten."

  Oh, yes. As long as he stayed on task and didn't go from calling me Kitten to announcing he knew I was a Cougar. I could be his everything forever as long as we left my Cougar under the bed and he preened me like this.

  His lips continued deconstructing me piece by agonizing piece like a motor he painstakingly disassembled as he kissed a mind-numbing trail along my inner thigh.

  Down. Down to edge of my panties. There. Right where he made me dance with uncontrollable need. I bit my lip and held my breath.

  "You're so damned wet." He growled, studying me while he slid his thumbs beneath my panties' elastic seam.

  And sucked the breath right out of me without any more than the slightest touch.

  His thumbs plunged inside my wet channel.

  My head dropped backward, until the back of my crown lolled right and left on the bed.

  If this is what he did to me with my panties on, what was next?

  He released a few ragged breaths pumping his thumbs into my grinding sex before yanking my panties off.

  "Thank God," I rasped and managed to press my shoulders back into the soft blanket.

  "Fuck, God. Mine," he growled, looping my knees over his shoulders with gentle ease.

  Being eaten now would kill me. "Inside me, Jackal. Please."

  Apparently, I wasn't specific enough. He didn't use his steely shaft. No, he used his wily tongue. Thrusting inside my aching channel. Taunting me. All I could do was beg he stop. "Please," I whined and mindlessly ground my clit against his teeth.

  He snarled, his Wolf speaking now.

  Sparks flashed behind my shut eyelids as I tried to hang onto my sanity.

  He exhaled in a gusty hot breath and trailed his tongue around my clit in little circles.

  Inflamed. Swollen. That little nub was so ridiculously tender.

  Nothing mattered but my orgasm.

  Now.

  I was going to explode.

  His teeth nibbled at the taut little bud.

  I yelped.

  My body shuddered and jerked.

  And I had been complaining about all the practice he had before me.

  Silly me.

  Those poor village girls were probably slitting their wrists. I gulped and just let the bed consume my panting body.

  He walked up my body with his palms on the bed, along my sides, until his gaze stared down where the length of his overpowering heat promised I would never yearn for another mate.

  Ever.

  The smooth head of his cock nudged my humming sex's entrance.

  At long fricking last.

  Oh, how I wanted to snake my legs around that slim waist of his and lock his amazing body into place until he came through on the promise of driving his steely shaft home. I was just too damned wasted from being eaten to manage movement.

  "I'm going to mark you now," he rasped.

  "Yes." I nodded enthusiastically. "I want you to make me yours." And that was anything but a lie. He would protect me. Love me. Just like this. Every day. W
hat more could I ask for?

  He gurgled a throaty growl inches from my nose, and, slowly, he shoved his solid thickness inside me. All the way down to the scratchy hairs covering the firmness of his seed-engorged sac.

  Dear. Gods. My body simply gave with the slickness he'd conjured from its depths.

  Move, Jackal. Hard and fast.

  His serious features shifted slightly.

  Dark hair began sprouting from his arms.

  His thick cock jerked, threatening to explode.

  Gods, he was shifting.

  "Hard and fast, Jackal," I groaned and rocked my hips again. Anything to get him to hurry before it was too late. Before he lost control.

  He practically roared with a snarl and began thrusting, claiming my clenching channel, his gaze sliding back and forth between my face and our mating bodies.

  But the shift slowly came upon him and halted where his face hadn't changed. He balanced upon one arm's flexed muscles, taking care to study his thrusts and my reaction.

  Thank the stars.

  My limbs finally flooded with newfound energy on the wake of another all-consuming itch of orgasm.

  It was coming at long last.

  No. I was. I snaked my arms around his massive hairy body, pulling his stare completely to me, and clung to his lithe desperate movements.

  It didn't matter that his body bulked even more because of his shifting.

  He snarled possessively, grinding faster and faster, rubbing me with incredible Wolf hairs that only intensified my sensitivity. And his cock engorged even more. Was that even possible?

  Possibilities… Now if only I could get him to hand his seed over to my soul, I'd have a chance to possess the only thing denied to me for eight years. A child. That coup in itself would be the ultimate gift from his guardianship.

  Gods, to bite him…

  To sink my teeth into his salty skin.

  To finally claim a piece of someone for myself.

  Shit, I never wanted to bite anyone before. What was happening to me? I dared not breathe, sliding my ankles over his hairy iron ass, pulling him into me as if trying to contain my inner Cougar. She was there. Clawing my heart into a tangled knot of fear. Demanding for release.

  Why now?

  Mine, Cougar snarled.

  To claim him? I gulped back my breath. Bit back my cries. Slammed my eyes shut. And sank my nails into Jackal's back at the roots of his wiry wolfen hairs, trying not to scream. I had to control Cougar.

  His huge iron erection bucked inside me.

  His hips jerked.

  Still he hadn't completely shifted. I'd have to give him credit for restraining his Wolf. And he gifted me an even better orgasm with the thickening of his erection. I loosed a scream and grabbed onto those coarse hairs of his shoulders.

  Absolute rapture erupted inside my soul, driving out like the rings from a water droplet hitting a watery surface, growing as energy shoved those rings outward away from the point of impact, sending tremors to every cell in my limbs in consecutive bursts of mind-numbing pleasure. I threw my head back and half-moaned another escaping scream.

  Mine. Mine. Mine, Cougar growled.

  He roared and slammed his sharp teeth down over my clavicle.

  Pain seared me into lying frozen for a moment until a bolt of lightning shot through my body jolting every one of my cells into a state of absolute numbness.

  Blessed stars.

  He hadn't bitten close to my neck at all.

  I wouldn't bleed out.

  I leaned my cheek into his furry head and ran one handful of fingers up to the back of his skull, through his wiry coat. Encouraging his ownership. Because he was so amazingly attentive in and out of bed. That's what I needed to survive. I needed a Jackal.

  He hummed little vibrating growls into my numb flesh, clamping me between his razor-sharp Wolf teeth as our bodies slowly ground to a halt with our dying orgasm.

  We feebly bucked to sustain the fleeting rapture.

  The all-consuming sensation between mates.

  Something I hadn't experienced with as much magnitude with his brother but dared not admit. I just gasped for breath with my eyes tightly shut and clung to his furry panting massive form.

  His hips gave me one last tiny shove.

  I matched the effort with equal enthusiasm.

  He gurgled a faint growl, gently lifting his teeth from my flesh, turning his nose into my ear, snorting a gust of hot air, and nuzzled me. "Mine," he managed with nary a twinge of animal voiced in his claim.

  "Yours." I curled my palm around the back of his furred head and held him in place, wanting him to lie still. To allow me the chance to calm my Cougar enough to convince her to crawl back into her cage.

  Gods, if he saw my eyes now! Would they mirror his?

  He shifted a knee, shoving back for a release from my grasp.

  Not yet. Not until I knew I had a grip on my Cougar. "Don't move, Jackal. Stay with me. Hold me." I rubbed my cheek into his possessively.

  He hummed another gurgle and turned his furred cheek to my shoulder, pressing down into the stinging cuts he'd branded me with, and sighed. "Mine."

  "Oh, yes, Jackal. Yours."

  Wasn't that the truth.

  My father would have fancied a scientific explanation for the intense moments with Jackal's possession. Mother would have rambled on about the Goddess' favors. Something somewhere might finally be uttered to explain my latest life experience. But this was more than simple possession like with John. This was the melding of souls on a different level where my Cougar surged to make all known. To announce her claim. But what about John? Was I shallow? How could I just toss his memory aside?

  Guilt threatened to choke my breath away.

  "I promise to protect you always," Jackal began with his sacred vows. "To love you always."

  Tears burned inside me.

  Damn. I'd given myself to Jackal. For survival. And found more than I'd ever bargained for. I didn't deserve to feel safe. Or loved. Protected. I didn't deserve a mate like this. I wasn't worthy with the way I seemed to carelessly fling my heart at males.

  Unworthy. I curled my fingers into the thinning wolf hair on his head and tried to choke back stinging tears.

  The rest of his words were buried and muffled beneath my tidal wave of guilt.

  He grew quiet, settling down even more.

  Waiting for my response. "And I you." It was true. For the most part. My Cougar meant to claim him.

  Shit. I owed him faithfulness for spitting on his brother's grave.

  And he had no idea what I was.

  Would he hate me when he learned I risked his life beyond the normal limits of mating?

  Chapter Six

  Jackal struggled to stay awake but marking Sierra had sucked him dry. And now she clung to me, he noted. Giving oneself over to a woman took every ounce of energy a man had. But she'd accepted me without argument. Actually welcomed me. Anything else would have been insulting though. Her reaction reflected her understanding of our relationship as inevitable. And I hadn't given her any reason to fear me. As long as I hadn't hurt her when we mated.

  Had I? My Wolf fought to surface. Had he done any damage? I had tried to lift my head from her shoulder, to look into her eyes where she held me in her arms after the marking.

  My exhausted flinching muscles wouldn't permit me to move yet. Although, I could feel my shifting euphoria receding. The hair on my arms was thinning. And my fingers simply looked like those of a man.

  "Did I hurt you?" I managed.

  Her fingers gently wriggled in what remained of my wolf coat, and she rubbed her cheek against the back of my head. "No."

  "Not even a little?"

  "The bite never feels good," she chuckled.

  Never. A word noting she'd done this before.

  My gut coiled with deep-rooted realization.

  Of course, she knew what to expect after Rattler. And I eagerly accepted her as his widow. But why? Maybe there was more
to my honor in protecting my brother's mate than I dared to admit before?

  She was beautiful. Damned attractive as Tornado had announced immediately upon laying eyes on her.

  Had my motives stemmed from raw attraction?

  Had I lost control and given into lust like the others?

  Was I equally weak?

  At least I hadn't hurt her. "You're safe with me. I swear." And damned sure intended on proving that singular truth every day for the rest of my life.

  "I know. That's why I chose you, Jackal."

  A little spark of something flickered to life in my chest.

  Those words demanded I restrain my weaker tendencies. Forced me to vow to focus everything I have on proving I could keep my needs in check. Sierra was my mate now. I'd do whatever was necessary to demonstrate I deserved her. Respected her.

  "Thank you for making love to me," she whispered, unlocked her legs from around my waist, and sliding them back to bedding.

  Releasing me, the beast, as if she understood I'd done everything in my power to make the marking easy for her. Gods, I wanted to gaze into her sky blue eyes. Know she hadn't been frightened. But my eyes made me look like an animal. This first time, she needed to remember I could control my Wolf. As I'd done for her. "Can you breathe?"

  "Oh yes. Don't you dare move." She briefly tightened her arms around me and sighed a little sound of contentment.

  Who wanted to move with her soft curves clinging to him? Lying like this was the epitome of wonderful. Well, aside from finally shifting with my cock buried inside a woman's hot tight vise. The Well of Immortality. The place where purpose for the self pooled beyond duty a man had for humanity. A place to recharge one's soul. Nothing compared to dipping into that spring.

  * * * *

  Sierra woke in the fading orange light of the day to find her mate had finally eased off her to pull her body against his solid chest where he had repositioned onto his side, sleeping. He was just too damned warm. Too comforting. What now?

  His arm wrapped around me protectively in his state of absolute ease.

  Throw in the locking of the door when he departed and his bringing me food instead of ushering me around the nosy village as his prize and I realized he was extremely thoughtful. How fortunate. But John had everything to do with our chance meeting.