Cat Scratch Fever

by Jodi Redford

  After a few more exchanged blows, Dante picked up one of the chairs and knocked out his opponent with a well-placed swing. Shane employed the same trick on his guy before shooting a grin toward Dante. “Damn, been a while since you and I took care of the riffraff.” Using the back of his hand to swipe away a trickle of blood that seeped from a small gash on his forehead, Shane observed the fallen werewolves with obvious disdain. “So, what’d the Gifford brothers do this time?”

  The murder hadn’t entirely abandoned Dante’s expression. “They messed with my woman.”

  Shane’s dark eyebrows winged upward. “Your woman? Since when the hell have you had a…?” His voice slowly trailing off, Shane slashed his stare in her direction. Good thing there were no flies buzzing around with the way his mouth was gaping. Just when she became convinced that he’d been struck permanently mute, he belted out a laugh and slapped Dante on the back. “Good one, coz. But you know it’s a little early for April Fools’.”

  “It’s not a joke.” The fierce possessiveness once again brewing in his eyes, Dante tugged her into his arms. “Lilly is mine.” Giving her no time to respond to that predatory claim, he slammed his mouth over hers.

  Chapter Nine

  “Was that absolutely necessary?”

  Dante waited for the Bowl ’N’ Brew’s front door to completely close behind them before glancing at Lilly. The pink tinge to her cheeks matched the rosiness of her mouth. “Me kissing you? Hell yeah.”

  “No. Calling me yours.”

  “It made a believer out of Shane, didn’t it?” To be honest, the primal hunger that’d swept through him speaking those three words had almost made him a believer. As it was, his body still thrummed with the strong urge to bend Lilly over the tailgate of his truck and bury his cock inside her. Her intoxicating scent didn’t help matters. Unable to resist the lure of her pheromones, he hoisted her into his arms and snuffled the side of her neck.

  “That tickles.” Her giggle made his balls tighten.

  Damn pathetic. Suddenly recalling her injured ankle, he gentled his grip on her. “What are you doing here, anyway? You’re supposed to be staying off your leg.”

  “I’m fine. If you’d set me down, I could show you firsthand.”

  “Nope. I like you right where you are.” Squeezing her ass, he sucked on her earlobe.

  The door to the Bowl ’N’ Brew swung open behind them, and Frank Hopkins, one of the resident old timers, walked out. His scowl adequately censorious, Frank stalked toward his beat-up station wagon.

  Lilly wiggled, attempting to escape Dante’s grasp. “I don’t care how authentic you want this to look, I’m still not letting you do me doggie style in front of your pack. Or grumpy old men.”

  It took a sec for his head to clear enough to remember his speech about the mate-bond ceremony. Of course she would think this was about their arrangement. After all, it was the reason for their whole charade, right? His dick was only getting caught up in the moment. Grunting at that weird thought, he let her slide back down his body.

  She nibbled her lip as she looked up at him. “That’s not to say I wouldn’t let you do me doggie style someplace more private.”

  His cock bobbed against the fly of his jeans. “That so?”

  “Mm hmm.”

  Hot damn. Act or not, there was no way in hell he’d pass that up. Lacing their fingers, he led her toward his truck. She shot a glance toward her SUV, and he gave her a squeeze. “We’ll come back for it.”

  “But we’re right here. I can drive myself—” She broke off with a wispy moan when he sucked her earlobe between his teeth again.

  “If I don’t end up inside you within the next two minutes, I’m gonna fucking self-combust.”

  “Ooh.” Angling her head back, she offered him a cheeky smile. “Then what are you waiting for?”

  He slapped her ass with one hand while he used the other to yank open his truck’s passenger door. After assisting her in, he hurried to the other side and hopped behind the wheel.

  “Do you always leave your engine running while you’re off instigating bar fights?”

  “Chevy’s in the backseat. Can’t get any better theft deterrent than him.” Not that his dog would do anything more lethal than lick a potential car thief to death, but the Great Dane’s intimidating size made up for his lack in other areas. Dante shifted out of park and cruised toward the farthest end of the lot, where they would be safe from prying eyes. “And for your information, I didn’t start that fight in there.”

  “I know.” She hesitated for a moment before peeking at him. “Thank you for helping me out. You seem to be doing that a lot.”

  “You sound like you’re not exactly happy about that.”

  She fiddled with the strap of the seat belt. “I don’t like the idea of relying on anyone but myself.”

  He grunted. “So I’ve noticed.”

  Her silence stretched between them again before she cleared her throat and released the shoulder strap. “I guess I’ve just always found it easier that way. Less likely for me to be disappointed.”

  The softness in her tone dragged his focus to her profile. “How so?”

  She shrugged. “Nothing. It’s not important.”

  Whenever a woman uttered those three words, the opposite proved to be true. He had enough female relatives to know the wisdom of that fact. He slipped the gear into park and turned toward her. “Tell me.”

  “I was under the impression we snuck over here to fool around.” Leaning forward, she struggled out of her coat.

  He wanted to press her further, but the sight of her nipples straining against her thin cable-knit sweater leached his brain of all other thought. “Jesus. You’re not wearing a bra, are you?”

  “Nope.” She kicked off her snow boots before unzipping her pants and shimmying from them along with her bikini underwear.

  He sat there like a dumbass moron for a full twenty seconds before snapping to his senses and fumbling with the buttons on his fly. Flipping up the padded divider that acted as a center armrest, he scooted toward the middle of the bench seat and reached for Lilly. Awarding him a saucy smile, she swung a leg over his hip and straddled his lap. “I like to call this kitty style.”

  Laughing, he reached for the hem of her sweater and tugged it upward. While he divested Lilly of her top and nuzzled her cleavage, she freed his cock and stroked his length. He shifted sideways and laved her nipple, loving the way it pebbled against his tongue. Her taste was addictive. Consuming. Plumping her breasts between his palms, he rubbed her nipples with his thumbs. “Someday soon I’m gonna find out precisely how awesome it is fucking this cleavage.”

  Her mouth crooked at one corner. “You think so, huh?”

  “Yeah, amongst other things.”

  “Sounds like a lot of empty talk to me.” Reaching between them, she guided his cockhead to the entrance of her pussy and bore down. Warm, wet heat encased him in a slow glide. She started to move faster but winced when her kneecaps banged into the seat. “This is less comfortable than I thought it’d be. Not to mention your dog is staring at me. It’s kind of giving me a complex.”

  “Turn away from me, so you’re facing the windshield.”

  “Ooh, good idea.” With a little maneuvering, she shifted around and leaned forward to grip the dashboard as she bobbed up and down on his shaft. The new position gifted him with a mouthwatering view of his cock tunneling through her wetness. The spike of possessive hunger he’d experienced earlier returned with a vengeance. Growling, he clasped her hips and pumped into her deeper. She gasped, her pussy fluttering around him. Never loosing his rhythm, he banded one arm across her waist and pulled her against him. His free hand slid between her legs and cupped her pussy from the front, his thumb slicking over her clit. Her head fell back against his shoulder. “Oh God, Dante.”

  The way she groaned his name made him thicken inside her even more. It took a moment to realize what was happening as his cockhead swelled to the point it f
elt like it was ready to burst. He’d never once experienced a mating knot. The fact it was happening now—with Lilly—without even marking her with his bite, for Christ’s sake, might have freaked him out if he’d been able to concentrate on anything besides how fucking good she felt stretched tight around him.

  She must have noticed the significant change in his girth because she jerked her head up. “Uh, Dante, what’s going on in there?”

  It took some doing not to laugh at her choice of words. “Shh. It’s okay. Just give me a minute.”

  “But—”

  The last thing he wanted to have to do was explain to her what was going on, and the possible ramifications of why, so he caressed her clit again, hoping it would distract her. It seemed to do the trick. A sexy whimper escaping her, she wiggled in his lap. She arched her back suddenly, her fingers digging into his thighs. A strangled noise that sounded suspiciously like meooooow choked from her as her whole body tensed. The tiny muscles in her pussy contracted, milking him with enough force to make him come with her. Shuddering, he held her tighter as they both rode out the waves of their powerful orgasms.

  A moment later she slumped on top of him, apparently content to let him stay buried inside her. Fortunate, considering the mating knot hadn’t yet diminished enough to allow him to pull out. As he listened to their heartbeats beating in perfect syncopation, he couldn’t help a chuckle from breaking loose.

  She popped one eye open and squinted at him fiercely. “Don’t even say it.”

  He waited for her eyes to drift back shut before allowing his grin full rein. “I made you meow.”

  She pinched his thigh hard enough to earn his yelp. Her lips curved into a sleepy smile. “Yeah, but just you wait until I make you howl.”

  Chapter Ten

  Twenty minutes later, Dante rounded the bend in his drive and stared at the four vehicles blocking his way. He shifted his scrutiny to the front porch. Sure enough, Shane, Theo, Jamie and Tess were huddled near the door, clouds of cold air puffing from their mouths. More than likely, the only reason the rest of the Morgan clan wasn’t here was because they hadn’t been able to duck out of work.

  Thank Christ for small miracles.

  On the one hand, he was happy the scene back at the Bowl ’N’ Brew had done the trick, but he wasn’t such a glutton for punishment to welcome the idea of fielding all of his relatives’ incredulous demands at once.

  Drawing a deep breath, he pulled next to the shed and killed the engine. Every eye was trained on him as he climbed from the vehicle and stepped aside, allowing Chevy to leap from the cab. Rather than going to greet their visitors in his typical enthusiastic fashion, the dog skulked around the corner of the house, presumably to stash his bone someplace safe before someone might steal it. Left to deal with the gang on his own, Dante approached the porch.

  “What the hell, dude?” Theo demanded before anyone else had a chance to speak up.

  Jamie offered Dante an accusing stare. “So you adopted a cat, huh?” She grimaced. “Oh man, I don’t even want to know what you’re planning to do with those cat toys.”

  Tess’s eyebrows lifted. She opened her mouth, only to snap it shut as the crunch of tires sounded. Dante turned and watched the approach of Lilly’s SUV. Even with the distance separating them, he could clearly see the wide-eyed apprehension overtaking her face as she took in the amount of Morgans camped on his porch. He had to give her credit for not flooring it in reverse and hightailing it the fuck out of there.

  Hell, it was probably what he would have done.

  A weighty silence descended on the group as Lilly parked her vehicle and made the slow trek toward the porch. Dante’s gaze dipped toward her neckline, where the tag for her sweater was hanging out in plain view. She’d jumped into her clothes so fast earlier, he hadn’t noticed she’d put the sweater on backwards.

  His mouth quirked, and Lilly glanced down. A groan fell from her. “Aw crap.” Her motions swift, she tugged her scarf in place to cover up her wardrobe malfunction.

  Something about her obvious embarrassment stoked his protective instincts. Cupping her elbow, he pulled her close and dropped a kiss on her forehead.

  The collective spell of silence that’d gripped his cousins shattered as they all began talking at once. In his typical fashion, Theo outshouted everyone else. “Holy shit, Shane wasn’t talking out of his ass.”

  Shane’s eyebrows snapped low as he glared at his brother. “Why would I have been talking out of my ass?”

  “’Cause you’re good at it.”

  Ignoring Theo’s smartass crack, Shane transferred his scowl to Dante. “Not two days ago, you were bitching about Lilly swinging by your place. Now the two of you are doing the mattress mambo?”

  Dante shrugged. “Things change.”

  “That’s a big jump to make, dude,” Theo pointed out.

  Tess cleared her throat. “I think everyone is just a little…shocked…right now.”

  “You can say that again,” Theo groused before pinning Dante with a penetrating stare.

  Theo’s suspicion was expected. As the sheriff of Highland County, Theo tended to not take things at immediate face value. Still, it didn’t stop Dante from grinding his teeth. A retort sprang to his mouth just as Foster’s black Hummer came roaring up the drive.

  A grunt fell from Theo. “This is gonna be interesting.”

  Hell, that was putting it mildly. Tucking Lilly closer to his side, Dante waited for his father to jump from the car. Foster’s coloring was beet red, hinting that he was seconds away from launching into apeshit crazy mode. He stomped forward, his livid gaze panning from Lilly to Dante. “You better have a damn good reason for the mess you left back in town.”

  Obviously the Gifford brothers hadn’t wasted any time sniveling over getting their asses kicked. No doubt they’d phoned their dad right after the fact, who in turn called Foster. Fucking pussies. “Yeah, I’ve got a perfect reason—no one lays a hand on my fiancée.”

  His bombshell did the trick of momentarily stunning Foster—and everyone else—into silence. There weren’t many occasions where his dad was caught off guard and left with his mouth gaping open. A full fifteen seconds passed before Foster found his tongue again. Eyes narrowing, he glared at Lilly. “Is this your idea of payback for your grandpap, you little slut?”

  A cold, lethal rage speared through Dante. His fist connected with Foster’s face before he fully comprehended he’d thrown the punch. Foster thudded backwards into the snow as a pair of gasps sprang from Jamie and Tess.

  The residual knife’s edge of anger still coiled in his gut, Dante eyed the blood trickling from his father’s nostrils. “Call her that again, and I’ll do a lot more than rearrange your nose.”

  Foster struggled to his feet before spitting in the snow. “If you think I’m going to allow you to marry her, you’re dead wrong.”

  “You don’t tell me what to do.”

  “If you want to keep your alpha status and continue leading this pack, you damn well will do what I say.” Triumph twisted Foster’s hard features. “You’re free to fuck her all you want—it won’t satisfy your mate-bond requirement.”

  “There’s nothing in our bylaws that demands it be a wolf I mate with.”

  A tiny fraction of the victory sputtered in Foster’s gleeful expression. Wiping the back of his hand across his mouth, he glanced at the rest of the Morgans congregated behind Dante. “They won’t accept her as your mate.”

  “I’d accept Lilly before I would Anna Gifford,” Jamie piped up.

  A trio of harmonizing responses echoed from the others, earning a black scowl from Foster. His hands fisted at his sides. “Hardly a majority vote. Believe me, the rest of the pack won’t be so easily swayed.” With those words of warning, he spun on his heel and stalked back to the Hummer. After banging the door shut, he gunned the engine and floored it in reverse, sending up a shower of snow on either side of the vehicle.

  In the wake of Foster’s irate depart
ure, another lengthy silence filled the void. A shiver coursed through Lilly, and Dante tightened his arm around her. He turned and caught the curious speculation of his cousins.

  Damn. So much for an uninterrupted repeat performance of the hot and heavy session he and Lilly had engaged in earlier. Not masking his irritation, he journeyed up the stairs and unlocked the door. Everyone trooped inside. While Theo made himself comfortable on the couch, Jamie and Tess offered Lilly awkward hugs and congratulated her on the engagement. A grunt chuffing from Theo, he stacked his feet on the coffee table. Ignoring him, Dante ventured to the kitchen to gather beer and other refreshments for his unexpected guests. Twisting the cap off a bottle of Bud, he chugged down a much-needed swallow. Now that some of the adrenaline was wearing off from the showdown with his father, a host of conflicted emotions took root. Disbelief warred with the feral satisfaction burning in his chest. Bad as things had been between him and his old man in the past, it’d never escalated to the point of outright violence.

  He should probably feel guiltier about decking Foster, but the truth was he wouldn’t hesitate to do it again if push came to shove. He wouldn’t stand for anyone calling Lilly a slut, much less that someone being his own father.

  A scuffing noise sounded behind him, and he turned as Shane approached. His cousin eyed the bottle in Dante’s hand before grabbing another for himself from the counter and tipping it in Dante’s direction. “To your upcoming nuptials.”

  Dante met the skepticism in Shane’s unwavering gaze. “You’re the one who said I need a wife.”

  “Hell, I didn’t think you’d take me up on it. And you better believe I never expected the lucky lady to end up being Lilly.” Shane pointed the bottle at Dante again. “So what’s the real story here, coz?”

  Dante carefully kept his expression bland. “There’s no story.”

  “Bullshit. You couldn’t stand each other two days ago.”

  “Maybe I was wrong about Lilly all these years.” Had he been? Truthfully, he’d been all too willing to only see what he’d perceived to be her pain-in-the-ass qualities. And mostly that’d been due to his frustration over her determination to get him to sell the land. But was Lilly’s dedication to the lynchats’ cause any different than his commitment to his pack? Not really, when you got down to it.