Cougar

by Cougar (lit)

  He squatted all of those naked glorious steely muscles before me to snatch the heel of one of my boots and tug me free of the one thing keeping my clothes on.

  His intense gaze never wandered from mine.

  Never released me as if trying to determine whether I truly wanted him or just lied. He could fancy the answer either lust or cooperation. I fell back onto my elbows on the sinking bed.

  He softly growled and walked his palms toward my elbows, pressing his hard shaft into the pants covering my groin.

  "Good morning, Jackal," I whispered at his serious mask anchored but inches from mine.

  "Yes it is," he managed to reply and sank his prickly beard and the velvet heat of his lips into the sensitive crook of my neck where his hot mouth latched onto my pulse and sucked.

  Then licked. Only to suck ferociously.

  He shoved me back until his delicious weight and the bedding sandwiched me with intoxicating ownership.

  Those bare muscles pinning me down while he drew my blood into a temporary tattoo of possession only made my hips rock uncontrollably. I snaked my arms around his flexing shoulders and snuggled into the heat of his iron body.

  He groaned and cupped one of my breasts with a palm.

  But my damned shirt prevented the best part of our unification. Skin-to-skin contact. "I want out of my clothes, Jackal. I want to feel your skin next to mine." Nothing felt like those magnificent muscles rubbing against me while he pumped his seed all over my pounding heart.

  He groaned a little dying sound and backed away, just enough where I could see the starvation in his gorgeous face.

  That's what I wanted more than anything.

  To see his desire.

  To know I could make him content with my body.

  To get what I wanted. Rather, needed.

  His fingers fiddled with my pants until he drew them off my legs. But he ignored the panties, heading for the hem of my shirt. He lifted the cloth, sliding it up a few inches.

  Only to pause and press the soft warm silk of his lips next to my navel. To brand my quivering flesh.

  I groaned and squirmed beneath his scratchy beard, liquid heat pooling between my legs.

  His yellow gaze locked on mine. "I smell your desire, Kitten. But I'm not going to just quench it. No," he growled, rising to trail his tongue up to the bra clasp between my breasts where he tucked his nose into the folds of my shirt's hem. He wiggled the wet tip of his tongue around the plastic as if he could release the mechanism without his hands.

  I'd die. Right here. Right now. While he played.

  He shoved the shirt's fabric above my bra cups, remaining focused on the clasp. "This," he whispered hot breath against my trembling flesh, "is one of those pieces of clothing I find only keeps the others from wondering how you look nude. It's annoying. But, I won't toss it into the fire."

  Just rip it off. "If you only knew how difficult it is to wait to have a bra taken off at moments like this, you wouldn't bitch about it." I chuckled and ground my head into the bedding, staring at shadows dancing on the dark ceiling while his warm skin teased me as his body touched me between my breasts.

  He practically cursed a happy little snarl and popped the clasp open with a pinch of fingers. "That mindboggling feeling is what makes our mating so damned perfect."

  His lips locked onto the hard pearl of one of my nipples and sucked.

  I almost jolted off the bed. His epiphany stated or not.

  He growled and slid the amazing heaviness of his chest muscles against mine until he could look me in the eye. "Better?"

  I almost groaned. "Yes," I hissed. "Please, Jackal, please! Touch me."

  A slow measured chuckle eked out three humored clips from him before he sank his moist lips to my neck. "Mine."

  Yes. Yes! Cougar snarled.

  My heart hitched into a trot.

  I wanted his mouth everywhere. And his hands. Everywhere his bulging mass trapped me on the mattress. He was so damned strong. Protective. So gorgeous. So attentive.

  * * * *

  Her hands fluttered across my shoulders and down my back like she wanted to remember every inch of my body. Jackal sighed and flicked his tongue to taste the length of his mate's salty neck.

  The nipping scent of iron, her seductive blood, rooted in my nose.

  Blood.

  My mate's essence.

  To take a bite.

  To sink my teeth into her delectable flesh.

  She moaned and arched her slender neck against my teeth, trailing a hand up to the back of my head where she pushed my teeth firmly against her skin as if demanding I gnash out my measure of her flesh.

  My engorged cock flinched in anticipation, restrained from the touch of her divine skin by the soft crotch of my pants.

  She turned her cheek against the crown of my skull. "Oh, Jackal, don't stop."

  Like there would be any of that today. I'd have my fill of her breast, ribs, navel, and clit before I pumped my seed into her. I sucked mouthfuls of her supple skin into my mouth, marching my lips down to the hard point dotting one mounded breast.

  She watched me, biting her lower lip, only to throw her head back and groan as I untied the nipple's little knot between my scraping teeth with one slow tug.

  "Oh, Jackal." She threw her head back and ground her head from side to side.

  A mate begging for the melding of souls was the most powerful force on the planet. I sucked out the pliable point of her nipple and teased the end with the tip of my tongue. Just to torment her.

  Her hips rocked against my waist.

  Hell, it would be all I could do to work her navel before filling her sweet tight channel. But self-restraint was all part of a mate's duties.

  Her palms draped my shoulders and shoved at me, fiercely.

  Downward. Toward what I knew had to be the wettest salty folds on Earth reflected by the determination in her actions. So she wanted me to work her clit? I chuckled, ignored her adamant shove at my shoulders, dropped onto her other taut nipple, fumbling with the button of her pants.

  It wouldn't be long before her hungry little sex's mouth gobbled along the length of my cock.

  Her hands slithered down my sides to assist in her unveiling while I teased her softened nipple with a raking motion between my teeth.

  "Oh, yes, Jackal," she groaned and wildly bucked her hips against our hands. "I need you to hurry."

  Talk about the sweetest words a man could hear. I released her nipple and backed away to watch her writhing body. Her hands shoved her pants as far down her hips as she could manage while my hips locked her against the dark blanket.

  I'd soothe her fevered need. I yanked her pants from her legs.

  She shoved up, bending her knees to her chest.

  If she thought she was going somewhere, she had another thought coming. I growled a warning.

  She dropped her knees to the bedding and held out a hand. "Hurry."

  Not a bad thought. I fell against her soft pubic hairs and raked my fingers through them until I could part her moist folds. She groaned and curled her entrance up to my touch.

  The hungry little thing. But she'd have to show some patience. I wouldn't be locking or loading until I had my fill while she rode my mouth. I leaned down, slowly.

  She gaped as I canted.

  "Wrap your legs around my shoulders, Kitten."

  Mesmerized, she managed to comply before I had my morning dose of salted mate. And I'd be damned if I didn't partake of that delicacy every day for the rest of my existence. Yes, I'd been forced to humor the villagers by fucking a daughter or two a year whenever some parent decided I was the catch of the clan and bribed Tornado into insisting I court the daughter. But that was merely survival. Thank goodness Sue was always on hand.

  Sue had a sneaky way of concealing the herbs to prevent pregnancy in candies she cooked. So, I'd administer the medication the morning after. Not anymore. This was Sierra's altar. And by the time I finished with her, she'd have to realize m
y bed was her sanctuary.

  Sierra would never want to be anywhere else.

  * * * *

  Gods' teeth! Sierra almost shouted. That's exactly what Jackal had. Magic teeth that toyed the most blinding thought-deficient white lights from my mind as he scraped, nibbled, and sucked my clit. I couldn't do anything but hold myself upright with arms braced behind my back and grind my sex, tilted for his convenience, into his accommodating tongue as his fingers fanned around my waist, holding me still.

  My gasping soul was trapped between locked elbows and my legs wound around his indomitable shoulders. Just to lie down for support from the bed… If I stopped long enough to reposition, the incredible sensation stealing my breath away would cease. And that just wasn't happening.

  A wave of exhilaration rose to smother my soul.

  I gasped, jerking in his unyielding grasp, and cried out.

  Over and over.

  He slid his strong palms up to my cup my breasts, and lifted his yellow Shifter gaze to mine.

  My body throbbed for more. For him. Shove me back. Bury yourself inside me. Just so he could feel the same way.

  He rose, slung his arm beneath mine, and lifted me until my arms no longer held me upright.

  "Kitten," he rumbled, planted a hot kiss against my Adam's apple, and laid me back, lowering his intoxicating weight atop mine, spreading my legs with his knees, and thrusting his thick shaft deep inside me.

  So damned deep. All the way to the stiff hairs on his sack. He halted a moment and twisted his hips. And he pumped and pumped, gurgling a growl, and touched the tip of his nose to mine with a determined yellow gaze.

  Life couldn't get any better than this.

  He snarled and thrust and lunged, with an unwavering gaze stared me down while his hard shaft nurtured the wild frenzy of pressure of a building orgasm inside me that could only be released by my screams. I clawed at his back and managed to gulp back the full force of a yell.

  He slammed his mouth down over mine and sucked the rest of my breath away with the most demanding possessive kiss, his swollen shaft lurching inside me.

  Oh, his sweet release. That's what my Guardian deserved. Exactly what he gave me.

  * * * *

  Sierra hadn't seen so much loot in one place in the past eight years. The trader's lodge held piles of odds and ends, all sorted into tools, clothing, boots, weapons, pots and pans, and more. The beautifully glistening canning jars of canned foods were stacked neatly. So beautiful that they almost seemed like treasures in the middle of summer when fresh vegetables and some fruit was easily available for the picking.

  "Toby, she can have anything she wants," Jackal said from where he stood behind me in the doorway. "I'll be right outside, Sierra."

  The door clapped at my heels.

  The short stocky trader's broad grin split his brown beard. "He's quite taken with you."

  What did that matter to anyone? I tried not to look into the man's blue eyes. He'd think he got the best of me. "Do you have any wool socks?" I foraged through a large basket of bundled sock balls. Top-notch quality made from homespun wool.

  "Yep. They're out of season. I'll get them from the back."

  The man left me alone. Where should I begin in this treasure trove?

  Light fluttered in one of the two small glass-covered windows.

  A person passed. Probably coming for trade goods.

  Toby burst back through the tarp in the store room's doorway. "Here's three pair that look about your size, Sierra."

  Three would get me through the winter. "Fine." I reached for the pristine homemade knitted beige socks. They'd hit me at the knees. The higher the warmer. "This is fine."

  "Soaps? Perfume? What about some pretty things?" He waved toward piles to my left. "I know Jackal's partial to pink."

  Jackal seemed more all black and camouflage. "Oh?" What did the trader mean by that anyway? I shot him a glance and turned to the canned foods. "Do you have any spices?"

  "Cinnamon. Mustard. Pepper. Salt. We don't get much else as far out as we are." He pointed toward some small metal tins. "See if there's anything you want here."

  "Cocoa?" I hadn't had chocolate in ten years.

  Toby gasped, sucking in a deep breath, and crossed his pursed lips with a thick finger. "Speak of this to no one." He spun and left.

  Whatever.

  A high-pitched muffled voice came from beyond the door.

  Female. And Jackal was out there. Hmm.

  My Cougar purred. Bad. Mine.

  Oh, he's definitely ours. I strode the three steps to the window and pressed my cheek against the sun-warmed glass.

  She was about my height, dark brown hair flowing down her back like the luxurious silk my father always bought my mother. And the curves that matched that sinuous wave of hair had to have been three times sexier than mine. But I never fancied myself sexy. Maybe pretty. But nothing like her. She was in Jackal's face with a hand on her hips, knifing her head left then right.

  Attitude. Well-dressed in brilliant colors. Nobody bothered with clothes like that this far out in the wilderness.

  "I hear Sessily," Toby said.

  I jerked back from the glass and faced his frown.

  "Don't fret about her. Her parents tried to pay Jackal to mark her. Apparently, Sessily gets whatever she wants. But her parents couldn't pay Jackal to take that one on permanently."

  Really? "Why would she be so angry?"

  "One of Tornado's policies." Toby looked away.

  What in the hell? "What policy?"

  "Like the one where you chose one of his Shifters." Toby shot me an all-knowing glance.

  The woman's voice suddenly elevated.

  "And?" I asked.

  "Tornado makes his unmated Shifters court the village daughters if the parents request the favor." Toby offered me a weak smile. "After all, these families have money. Money equals luxuries for the village. And the Guardians. It keeps the parents happy and daughters hoping."

  Talk about daft. People had feelings. Tornado obviously didn't care. War would explode any minute beyond the wooden door. "And how many of these little trysts turn sour?" I stepped back to the hard glass to attempt to make sense out of the bitter muted sounds wafting through wooden wall.

  Just in time to catch Sessily swing at Jackal's face.

  Jackal stood there when her hand slapped the shit out of him.

  Sessily really wasn't happy.

  Sessily pivoted and stomped toward me, past the window without glancing inside the trader's lodge.

  The door swung inward with a whine.

  Crap. I took a step away from the glass.

  Jackal met my gaze. "Are you finished?"

  The arch to his eyebrow noted he knew what I'd been doing clinging to the windowsill. Maybe I was finished in that regard. Really there wasn't any way to hide the fact I caught the gist of his little dilemma. "Almost." I turned to Toby.

  The trader didn't let on he knew anything about the argument. "Here. These are the last chocolates until my son returns from the coast next month." He handed me a silver tin.

  Jackal beat me to the shiny box, opened it, and turned with loads of that sweet compassion in his green eyes. "Chocolate?"

  Probably offering the candy to smooth over what I witnessed outside. But chocolate had to be as expensive as firearms. Surely, I could trade something I'd had in the tree house. "What do you want for them, Toby?"

  "I got it." Jackal stared me down with the tin thrust at me.

  Flat brown squares filled the container.

  "I told you that you can have anything you want, Sierra. I meant it."

  I guess now was as good a time as any to prove I trusted him. After all, he chose me back when Tornado gave me the ultimatum. Sessily couldn't do anything about that now. But who could blame her after having amazing sex with Jackal? I stared into his eyes. "It's alright. I believe you."

  He inhaled and rubbed a knuckle against my cheek. "Got anything in pink, Toby?"


  What a waste of money. "No, Jackal. I found some socks. I really don't need anything else."

  "Socks?" His brow arched curiously, and he studied the beige bundles I flicked my gaze toward before focusing on Toby. "We'll take the chocolates, Toby. She plays the guitar. Got any instruments? And what about other things to keep a mind occupied?"

  * * * *

  Jackal walked his mate over every inch of Death Summit. She needed to know where all the weapons were. All the safest locations to hide during an attack. And with Sessily in a rage, who knew where Sierra might find herself needing a weapon or when she'd require a hiding place. How had my life come to this moment of being trapped between two females? I'd spent most of my time avoiding such a scenario.

  "I'm tired, Jackal. Can we finish this looking around another day?"

  My walking off my irritation wasn't going to do anything for my mate. Besides, she'd borrowed an old hardback copy of Pride and Prejudice from the town's small collection of about a hundred books. She'd have plenty to do after we ate. "Of course. Are you hungry? It's close to dinnertime. Let's swing by Sue's and see if she's got something we can take back to eat at our lodge. Tornado called a meeting tonight. So, we can use that as an excuse to eat early if supper isn't ready to serve the community."

  "Whatever you want to do."

  Now this was an accommodating female. Nothing like Sessily. I led her toward Sue's home.

  And she followed. Quietly. Asking nothing about what she'd observed through Toby's window. Didn't she want to know what happened? Sessily would have been enraged if she'd been standing on the other side of the glass. The one night I was forced to spend with that wench only proved a man was better off alone. But Sessily merely became more determined when I didn't accept her offer of another night trapped between her legs. But her father's money couldn't buy another night with me. A man had self-respect. And he damned sure didn't want to risk siring a child on her.

  That would be damnation.

  Absolute Hell.

  Nothing like my time spent with Sierra. Where Sessily raked on every nerve just in the manner her body moved, Sierra's movements begged to be caressed. Yes, a sane man would choose Sierra in heartbeat.

  Sierra deserved respect. Adoration.