by Nikki Winter
Nodding, Kaisal patted Dublhainn’s hand. “Later we’ll mourn for what could’ve been.”
His friend laughed, shoving at him. “Liar. You’re already whoring around on me, planning to mark other people.” Opening his door, he climbed out. “I could never trust you.”
Kaisal followed. “I can only take but so much rejection, Dubbs. I’m a sensitive man and I have needs.”
“Bullshit,” the wolf retorted as they reached the doorway.
When Kaisal went to walk through, Dublhainn stopped him. “Promise me something.”
Kaisal’s brows rose in question.
“That this”—his friend waved a hand between the two of them—“won’t change. I know what happens to males after they get mated.” He leaned in. “There’s this story I heard months ago about this grizzly who was living quite nicely in California. Sleuth dynasty, women by the dozens and bam—one day he catches sight of a wolf and it all changes. Now he’s roughing it somewhere in the mountains with a pack of my kind. My. Kind. I love my pack, by the gods do I love them, but I’m canine. How he hasn’t wiped the Earth clean of them yet I do not know. Then again I’m not in love. I don’t have anyone I’m willing to change everything for.” Dublhainn exhaled. “My point is that I don’t want to see you ambling about sans scrotum.”
“Okay, exactly how far has that fantasy of me falling in love with you gone?” Kaisal questioned, unlocking and opening the door. “Because now I’m starting to worry.”
The wolf cuffed him. “Don’t be a dick.”
“When you’re mentioning my undercarriage I have to question if you’re imagining finagling around beneath the hood.”
“What,” Basanti said from the corner of the living room, causing both men to scream and grab onto one another, “are the two of you discussing exactly?”
“You bringing about the oncoming apocalypse?” Dublhainn offered.
Head tilting, she watched him the same way a cat watched, well, everything. Basanti’s eyes glittered in the darkness. Why she was sitting in the dark, Kaisal dared not ask.
“To do that I’m going to need a blood sacrifice for the dark lord, Dublhainn.” Her teeth glinted as she gave a sharp smile. “Would you like to volunteer yourself?”
“Depends, sweetheart,” the man answered. “Will you be draining my femoral artery with your teeth right after you finish sucking my—”
Kaisal slapped a hand across Dublhainn’s mouth as Basanti unfurled herself from her chair. “Baz, calm. You’re calm. You’re on a beach in Kerala and there’s loads of maskai and tambuli and that homemade mutton saaru you love so much.” He backed slowly away with Dublhainn firmly in his grasp. “And there’s some half-naked little pervert in a banana cloth bringing you huggi and kadabu to feed you with his fingers.”
When he felt as though he’d gotten far enough away from where his cousin stood, he whispered, “Run.”
Dublhainn shot off through the house and Basanti stayed where she was.
Her sigh was loud and long. “You’re always taking away my toys.”
“Being that I have firsthand knowledge of how you play, I kind of have to.” Her lips curled and he nodded his head toward the steady stream of laughter coming from his den. “Are they…?”
“I think they were waiting for you to come back.” His cousin retook her seat. “That one is as skittish as a virgin on a porn set, Kas. Be careful.”
“When am I not?”
Basanti gave him a knowing look.
Kaisal’s lips twisted. “Right. Careful.”
He turned and walked toward the sound of their voices, his heart pounding in tandem with every step. Reaching the doorway, he found Callum in Kamali’s lap as he showed her the proper way to build a chainsaw shot gun before she mowed through a horde of the undead.
There was something about the scene that struck him directly in the chest.
Ours, his tiger cajoled.
Yes, Kaisal silently agreed, the fight going out of him. Ours. Marking Kamali wouldn’t solve every issue but it would be a step in the right direction. Nico couldn’t dispute his claim on the pair if he had no physical evidence. A connection to the lioness that went bone deep would be that evidence. But he had no rights to it. No one had any rights to it. It was something to be earned, and Kaisal would do so. He’d get her to see that there was nowhere else in the world better for her and Callum than being right here. Nowhere better than being with him.
Walking slowly inside, he could tell the moment Kamali sensed his presence because her shoulders suddenly tensed. He stepped closer and settled down next to the pair.
“Kaisal!” Callum cheered. “Iya’s killing hordes of flesh eaters!”
He quirked a brow in amusement. The boy’s eyes shone, his smile wide and bright, and he smelled like chocolate. Lots of chocolate. “Is someone a little cocoa drunk?”
The cub’s mouth twitched. “Mebbe…”
“Do I even have any left?”
Callum looked to his mother and she gave him a stare that clearly read, “There is no help for you here, my friend.”
Shrugging sheepishly, Callum waved his hands. “I’m a growing boy and I have needs.”
Kaisal blinked and looked at Kamali. “Exactly how high is this child’s IQ?”
She sighed, mussed Callum’s curls. “He was able to recognize over twenty full, complex sentences by two and could repeat them succinctly on his own by three. By the time he was four, he was reading at sixth-grade level. The last time he was tested, the results put him in the 130 range.” Her shoulders rolled. “My father thought it came from me since I was…” Stopping as if realizing she’d actually started to tell him more than a one-word answer for once, Kamali cleared her throat and finished with, “Like I said, he reads, a lot.”
“Since you were what, Kamali?”
Her head snapped around at her given name, eyes narrowing.
He watched her and nodded toward the door. “Come talk to me?”
She held his unwavering stare until the resistance seemed to drain from her. Placing a kiss on Callum’s temple, she whispered something in Yoruba and got to her feet. The cub went back to the game, obviously riveted by the screen.
Kaisal walked toward the kitchen, listening to her barely perceptible footfalls as she followed behind.
He went for the refrigerator and Kamali took a seat at the island.
“Hungry?” Kaisal mildly asked as he moved about the space.
“You know my name.” Her voice was whisper soft.
Stopping, he slowly turned around. “Yes. I do.”
Her eyes rose from the counter. “And?”
He cocked his head. “And?”
She sat backwards. “Now what?”
“You tell me.” he placed his elbows against the granite top and leaned toward her. “You tell me what happens now.” She looked away and Kaisal reached across, gently turning her head back with his fingertips on her chin. “You don’t want to leave, Kamali. Callum doesn’t want to. I don’t want you to.”
Gripping his wrist, she squeezed it. “But if we don’t—”
“If you don’t,” he interrupted, cupping her face in his palms. “It means you trust me, it means you trust my pride. It means you know this is where you belong.” Kaisal ran his thumb over her mouth. “It means you know you should be here with me…letting me feed you.”
Kamali appeared to be seconds away from smiling. “You have an obsession with food.”
“I have an obsession with you.” Kaisal angled closer and quietly demanded, “Stay. Stay here.”
Watching her throat work as she swallowed, he wondered what her skin would taste like when he placed his mouth there, wondered how hard her pulse would thump just beneath the delicate skin. Would she offer it to him on the crest of coming? Would she scream? Claw his back? Sink her teeth into his shoulder?
“Kaisal—”
He kissed her. No pretense. No more talking. No more beguiling. Kaisal brought their mouths together
in a brutal slam that made their teeth clink together. Kamali’s hands slapped the counter, the sound ringing out as his tongue danced past her lips and wrapped around her own, stroking over it and eliciting a moan. The rumble from her chest sent shockwaves down his spine, stopping at his cock and stroking over it like a caress.
This wasn’t gentle, it was primal. She was up and over the counter in seconds, the scent of her arousal slapping him as she sat on the edge of the island, her legs wrapping about his waist while he cradled himself near the heat of her need. Kaisal pulled her flush to him, his cock grinding against her as he caught her minute pants with his lips. She fisted his shirt, shuddering, and he found the halves of her ass, squeezing.
Her nails raked across his scalp and he lost all reason, bumping his pelvis into hers with short, sharp thrusts that imitated exactly what he wanted to do—fuck her long and hard until she was boneless and sated, covered in his bruising kisses. Kamali arched her back, wordlessly pleading for more, and he gave it to her. Finding her throat, he nipped her there while bringing her down against him again and again until he felt her body seize with an oncoming release.
Kaisal bit down on her lobe and growled, “Mine” before covering her mouth and drinking down her cries. The second her quivering stopped, she let go of him, panting.
They locked eyes and he found himself staring at the lioness and not Kamali. No, there was feral need written all across her face and the smell of her saturated the air. Each inhale pushed him further away from the reign over himself he’d had in his hands just minutes before. His tiger pawed at the locked cage, attempting to free itself. He swallowed, reading the clear intent in her gaze.
Kaisal gritted out, “If you run, I will chase you.”
She gave no sign that she cared, only moved away from him. Holding his stare, she walked to the back door.
“Kamali…” he warned between clenched fangs.
The locks clicked and before he could breathe another word she bolted.
His feet moved without hesitation. Kaisal was through the back door and clearing the side of the deck before he could even comprehend what he was doing. He simply ran. He didn’t care how far he had to go or what he had to do, he would catch her. He would make her his.
Naresh came toward him from the woods. “I just saw Kamali running, what did you…son of a bitch, Kas! That fucking hurt!”
He’d apologize for clothes-lining his brother later. He had a singular goal and he didn’t have any authority over his actions. Kamali wasn’t dealing with his human side any longer. No, as of right now, he was all beast.
Nine
Impulse propelled her forward. She couldn’t have stopped if she wanted to. Kamali no longer had a say; she no longer had dominion over her actions. No, it was the lioness now—it was about her. She’d wanted Kaisal from the beginning and she was determined to take him, even if it meant overriding the human parts that stood in her way. She devoured all rationalism and sensibility. She didn’t care about anything else, couldn’t be bothered to worry about the consequences.
Kamali’s heart pounded in her ears. Kaisal’s powerful steps jarred her with every slam of his huge, booted feet into the ground. He was eating up the distance between them, and she was running out of endurance. Fear didn’t keep her going, but anticipation. The thrill of the chase wasn’t just for him—didn’t satisfy just him. Deep down she needed to know she was worth chasing, worth running after. Kamali needed to feel him bearing down on her, needed to feel his humanity giving way to the savagery lurking behind his eyes. The greatest rush of power a person could ever experience was pushing someone over the proverbial edge, forcing them into a place where their wants took hold and didn’t let go.
Kaisal had teased her into this, had seduced the parts of her she had kept hidden in favor of being a mother, a guardian. But as of right now, she wasn’t just those things. She was a predator, she was a woman, and in some sense, they were one and the same. The air just behind her neck shifted, and she knew he was reaching for her. Kamali ducked and shot through foliage, knowing exactly where she was going—the cabin.
Her pulse stuttered, her breath leaving her in a jagged staccato rhythm that allowed her to see every exhale as it left her mouth. Kaisal’s growl of frustration sounded just behind her, becoming louder as she laughed. Just ahead she could see the snow-covered rooftop of her and Callum’s temporary home, and she pushed herself just that much harder to reach it.
Closer…
“Kamali,” he snarled just behind her.
Closer…
“I will catch you.”
Closer…
She was just a few feet away from the porch and managed to put all her energy into one clean leap at the hard, wooden structure, shouting back, “I want you to!”
Kamali didn’t get far. Instead she found herself caught mid-air and brought back down, slamming into a chest that was granite hard and vibrating with the force of the noises leaving Kaisal’s gut. His feet hit the porch and he spun her, pinning her to the door. When she looked up, she found herself staring into eyes that put her in mind of the Mnemba Island waters. Before she’d made her decision to part from the pride and study art in New York, Enilo had thought sending her on a vacation, reminding her of what she could regularly have, would dissuade her. He was wrong. It only made her passion for what she loved stronger. The fathomless blue waters of Tanzania sparked the desire to spend her week in her villa doing nothing aside from drawing. Now she wondered exactly how much more enjoyable that time could’ve been with Kaisal there, staring at her through his beast’s gaze with a hunger that sent fire charging through her blood in the same manner that his kiss had.
She wanted to feel that again; she wanted to feel his mouth again. Kamali grasped the front of his sweater, nearly ripping it and kissed him. Their lips meshed together, teeth nipping, biting. Every meeting aggressive, every touch causing a gasp. She sucked his top lip into her mouth and he took hold of her lower. He reached up and fisted her hair, the bite of his grasp sending a purr shuddering from her. Kaisal slammed her back into the door and assaulted her mouth, swallowing her next panting breath. Teasing her tongue with his own, he coaxed her into a mindless pleasure that made her forget everything but him. The heat returned tenfold, and Kamali found herself wordlessly begging for what only he could give.
He dropped to his knees, pulling at her jeans. Without much thought he simply shredded the material blocking him from his goal and pulled them until they were at her ankles. The Batman briefs she was wearing were hardly the sexiest thing, but from the way he groaned, she got the feeling he didn’t really care. He split them at the hips and watched them fall.
With one last flick of his gaze up at her, he wrapped an arm about her hips and drew her to him, diving between the folds of her sodden core. Her pussy convulsed on the first brush of his tongue across her clit and Kamali’s palms hit the door, searching for something to hold onto as he didn’t let up. Using his flattened tongue, he found the center of her and pushed inside. Her mouth dropped open on a silent scream when he stiffened the muscle and powered it in and out. She gripped his hair in one fist while holding the other to her lips to stem the cries pouring from her. One peak would begin and he’d back off just to start another, pushing her over until tears crested on her lashes.
Just when she thought she’d have to plead for what she needed—which was every inch of his cock—he stood. Putting his hands to her hips, Kaisal lifted her. He jerked one half of her jeans from around one ankle and Kamali could distinctly hear his belt buckle being freed.
“Put your hands above your head,” he commanded.
She hesitated.
Taking them in his grasp, he did it for her. “You touch me and whatever bit of sanity I have will leave, Kamali.”
Watching his hands as he undid the button on his jeans, she caught her bottom lip between her teeth, remaining unflinching when she sunk a fang into the flesh. It kept her focused, kept her from disobeying him because Go
d, she wanted to touch him. She wanted him to keep touching her. She wanted him to fuck her until her throat was raw and her abdomen was sore from clenching.
And when his zipper lowered…
Kamali’s eyes went wide, bouncing from the monstrosity he’d just freed. “Precisely where you do plan to put that?”
His lips curved, cerulean blue irises glinting. “Exactly where you want me to.”
“Oh, all right.” She nodded. “So that means it’s going back into your pants then?”
Kaisal’s brows arched in a look that was incredibly haughty. “What’s the point when we both know you’d just dive in after it, love?”
“You arrogant son of a—”
His lips punished hers for lying, for pretending she didn’t want him to sink her onto every centimeter of his length. She felt the tender bite of his cockhead after he lifted her left leg and hooked it into his elbow, beginning to enter her slowly, pushing past any resistance with ease. He seated himself halfway, his face burrowing into her shoulder as if he were trying to compose himself. She didn’t want his composure. She didn’t want his control. She wanted his beast.
Kamali nuzzled him just underneath the chin with her forehead right before she found the side of his throat and bit down. Not enough to break skin but just enough to spur him into action. He punched his hips, spearing her on the rest of him, and she gasped for air.
“Oh, God, Kamali…why…why’d you do that…?” He trapped her to his chest with an arm; the other he put on the doorway and then he thrust upwards, dropping her back down onto his erection, causing her to cry out. He babbled, “Sorry, baby…so sorry…can’t stop…Jesus…”
She found his shoulders and rode out every sensation he caused while powering into her over and over again, his dick reaching parts of her that felt like little, unknown secrets being whispered every time they came into contact with the veins and ridges of his length. Kamali didn’t want him to stop, couldn’t even ask him to.
