by Unknown
My fan club had arrived.
I didn’t know who was who once they’d shifted. But I knew from their angry snarls they weren’t happy to see us. Or maybe they were way too happy. Both scenarios terrified me.
Leo roared, matching the ladies snarl for snarl. He hadn’t left my side. I was afraid to take my eyes off of the cougars that blocked our path, but there was a good chance they weren’t working alone. If Leo challenged them, then he’d have to leave me unprotected. Any lion on the mountain could easily overpower me, no matter what how hard I fought. I hoped Leo had a better solution than I did. I had nothing.
Their argument wouldn’t end. My heart raced, Leo’s body tensed beside mine. After a blood curdling screech, the lions scattered into the trees. Leo tapped my leg three times, and I ran faster than I thought I could to keep up with him as we climbed the brae.
I kept expecting to have a lion cross my path, or attack me from behind, but it looked like the cougars just meant to scare us. We were still in animal form when we returned to the cabin. We’d left the door open, and Leo smartly combed each room to make sure we didn’t have any unexpected guests.
He shifted back to human form easily, standing filthy and naked in the middle of the living room. I wasn’t exactly sure what to do.
Last time I shifted involved a chase, too. That night I’d just wanted to be human, and it worked. So I concentrated hard on my regular life, thought about my sisters and Chloe. I couldn’t believe it was just hours before that Dakota drew a lion for me. The drawing was still in my purse.
It worked. My fur broke away, my hooves turned to fingers, and everything was back to normal. I collapsed on the floor in front of the couch, still gasping for breath after our cougar encounter.
Leo knelt down beside me. “You okay?”
I nodded. “That could have been really bad.” My whole body trembled. If one of those women caught me, they wouldn’t think twice about snapping my neck. It went without saying I didn’t want my neck snapped.
A growl caught in Leo’s throat. “They wouldn’t dare.” He wrapped me in his arms. “They just wanted to scare you.”
“It worked.”
Leo shook his head against mine. “No. I told them to leave you alone. You’re my family now. They have to respect that.”
I took a deep breath, Chloe’s words echoed in my head. If any of the bucks in my herd stood a chance against Leo, they would have dragged me away from here months ago. “My herd isn’t on board with us being together, either.”
“So they’d rather see you unhappy?” Leo sighed. “It’s foolish. I’d never claim someone I didn’t love.”
“I know.” I snuggled against him tighter. I’d crawl inside him if I could. “I don’t see why it’s so hard to understand.”
Leo picked up a clump of my ponytail with two fingers. My hair was nasty after shifting, and his curls were plastered to his head. We were so gross right now. I laughed when the hair dropped back to my shoulder. “Let’s get you cleaned up,” he said.
Helping me up from the floor, Leo led me into the bathroom. The spray from the shower fogged the room as soon as he turned it on. He must’ve had a chill after dealing with those cougars, too.
Stepping into the shower, I moaned when the hot water hit my skin. I never realized how bad being dirty felt until I was clean again. The water hit my skin from every angle, and I picked up the wash cloth to scrub the rest of the shifting goo away.
“I want to do it.” Leo took the cloth from my hand. He squeezed body wash into the cloth and rubbed it into a lather. The way he manipulated the cloth, and knowing what he intended to do with it made a whole different sensation rise in my core. My stomach clenched, and I moaned when Leo began moving the cloth across my body. It all started innocently enough. Still I trembled as he held my hand in his and cleaned each finger, moving up my arm, and then massaged my neck.
“Does that feel good?” His lips were inches from my ear. My muscles were still tense from the shift. I nodded. “Turn around,” he instructed, put his hands on my shoulders to guide me. I faced the wall, and he made little circles across my shoulder blades before changing to long strokes down my back.
Each time the cloth dipped a little lower, but he stopped at the curve of the top of my behind. His fingers brushed my ass and little spasms erupted just below the surface of my skin. I gasped when Leo stopped, but it was just temporary. He moved my leg, giving himself more room for his mission.
Needing balance, I put my hand up against the wall. Leo purred and I wanted to scream when he ran the cloth along my shoulder blades again, but I was familiar with his technique. It wasn’t long before his strokes dipped low enough that the cloth was between my legs, moving in a circular motion.
My core throbbed under his touch. He dragged the cloth back and forth slowly, then dropped it. My hips bucked when he slipped a finger inside me, hitting the spot that made me cry out. Adding another finger, he repeated the motion until I couldn’t see anymore.
Leo knew exactly what he was doing to me, and he wrapped his other arm around my waist as he kept thrusting. I bit my lip, holding in a moan.
“Don’t hold back, Daphne. I want all of you.” he nipped my earlobe and I shrieked. “Yes.”
Leo slid his fingers out of me, and started circling my clit so slowly my knees shook. He knew my body better than I did, and I could barely catch my breath. He steadied my hips, and ran his shaft the length of my sex before entering me.
My body craved him, expanding to welcome him home. My moans echoed in the small room, which just made Leo thrust harder and faster. My hands slid down the wall, and I completely belonged to him.
Fireworks started going off in my brain, and my body throbbed around his shaft. “Not yet.” Leo slid out of me and I groaned. He kept one arm around my waist, I was a quivering mess, trembling from looking over the edge and not being able to jump yet. With his other hand, he gathered my hair and placed it over my shoulder. “I want to wash your hair first.”
Leo lathered the shampoo between his fingers before bringing them up to my scalp. His thumbs traced small, slow circles down the back of my head, his fingers kneading just above my ears. Once he was satisfied that my hair was saturated in frothy shampoo, he let the soapy bubbles slide down my body and rinse away.
I turned to Leo and put my arms around his neck. I always had to go up on my tiptoes to kiss him. I needed to taste him. All of him. Our tongues tangled, and he pulled me against his body, all of it rock hard and still ready for more.
It wasn’t easy to stop, but I was on a mission. “You’re still dirty, too.” My lips moved against his, and I smiled against his cheek, giving him a quick peck before sinking down to my knees in front of him.
Taking a fresh washcloth, I made a show of wetting it, sneaking a peak up at Leo with a sly smile. He watched me with wide eyes, and his stomach trembled with his breath. I bit my lip, and Leo chuckled. It wasn’t often he gave up control, but right now, as I brought the cloth up his balls and draped it over his sack, that control was all mine.
With soapy hands, I stroked his shaft back and forth, circling my thumb over the tip. Leo threw his head back, a noise caught in his throat similar to a strangled cry. I stilled my hand, running the other one up his leg. “No holding back,” I reminded him. “Tonight we’re wild.”
“Yes.” The word was little more than a hiss, hot air turning to steam when it hit the water. “Just keep doing what you’re doing.”
I blinked rapidly and my devious smile was back. “Are you sure?” I again ran my thumb over his tip.
His eyes closed and he gasped. “I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.”
“Open your eyes, baby.” In case he didn’t understand my request, I quickly ran my hand down his shaft, to down to the base. “I have a better idea.”
I waited until he followed my instructions. His breath stuttered in his chest as I licked tip of his cock, and then closed my mouth over it. Never taking my eyes
off of Leo’s, I continued my mission.
Leo groaned, cupping the back of my head and guiding me. His breath grew noisy, and he leaned forward, his hands falling to my shoulders. I knew he wasn’t going to last much longer, and Gods, I love that. To be able to give back a little of what this beautiful man gave to me.
He eased his body away from my mouth, and dropped to his knees in front of me. His whole body vibrated, his purr almost a roar. Taking my mouth in a hungry kiss, he led me down in a backbend. He caged me in with his arms, never breaking the kiss as he thrust his shaft deep inside me.
Leo swallowed my cry. He was too close to the brink to worry about being gentle. His hips slammed back and forth, and all I could do was curl my fingers into his shoulders and hang on for the ride.
It didn’t take long for his shaft to swell, and his hot release flooded me. I lay panting as Leo reached up to shut off the water.
We’d just done another dangerous thing tonight. But right now, I was too exhausted to speak.
“That was amazing.” Leo still hadn’t caught his breath when he smoothed a piece of hair away from my face, kissing the bare skin left in its wake.
“It was.” I picked up my hand and laughed, turning it so he could see. “We are so pruny.”
“Yeah we are.” Leo laughed. “It was worth it.”
Once we were out of the shower, I wrapped my hair in a thick towel, and Leo swaddled me with another. He patted slowly, erasing the water droplets from my skin. He paid special attention to my breasts, circling each nipple.
“That wasn’t enough for you?” I still hadn’t totally caught my breath yet.
Still dripping wet and bare, Leo brought his nose to mine, moving it back and forth. “Never.” He smiled, the towel still moving around my breast.
I put my hand over his, stilling it, then stealing the towel away from him. “We have to talk about what happened tonight.” I pulled the towel around my body and turned away from him. I wasn’t sure what I was going to say yet.
Leo sighed, I watched his fuzzy reflection in the mirror, still obscured with a layer of steam. He leaned against the counter, his head bowed. “I didn’t think we’d see anybody tonight,” he finally said. “I run that path all the time. There’s never any cougars down there. That’s why I chose it. I’d never intentionally put you in danger.”
I handed him a towel. “What did they say to you?”
He scoffed and shook his head. “The usual crap. Nothing they could possibly back up.” He tied the towel around his waist and watched me walk out of the room.
“Daphne,” he called after me, frustrated. I sat down on the bed, hugging the towel to my body. His eyes were so sad when he came around the corner. “I’ve been dealing with these bitches ever since I moved to Soldier Mountain. They’re bullies, and there’s a reason why they’re alone.”
“I don’t think we should make it easy for them.” I couldn’t meet his eyes.
“We’re not.” He cupped my chin, and turned me back to him. “Leaving the mountain, breaking up—“ my eyes grew wide and he shook his head, “—which is not going to happen, that would be making things easy on them. They’d get what they wanted. They’d win.” His lips were so close to mine. “We’re not going to let them win.”
“I want to be able to live a normal life with you.” I didn’t have one friend here, and no one from the herd would come visit me since mountain was filthy with lions. “I don’t want you to have to babysit me every time I leave the house. I feel trapped.”
Leo walked over to the French doors that led out to the balcony and threw them open. The night air prickled my skin after so long in the steaming hot shower. He disappeared on the balcony. I wasn’t done with this conversation, so I followed him to the open door.
“Come out here,” he said quietly.
I looked down at my towel. “Like this?”
He nodded. The cold didn’t affect me much, especially since I’d just shifted, so I stepped out into the night. Only an overhead light illuminated the balcony. It cast a few long, lonely shadows over the trees below us, but everything else was blanketed in thick blackness.
“Look at how big the mountain is, Daphne. The pride is what? Two dozen people? They don’t own this mountain.”
I stepped to the railing. In the dark, the mountain could’ve gone on forever. I looked back to Leo. The strong line of his jaw cast a black line into the night. “Has anyone ever told them that?” I asked.
Leo laughed. “They know. Why else would they be so insecure?” He turned to me, and his towel fell in a damp heap at my feet. He ran his finger along my collarbone, and for the first time since I came out on the balcony, I shivered. “There are so many animals on this mountain. I’ve seen fox, lynx, bears, a few deer—“
“Really?” I’d love to find them.
“I don’t think they’re shifters.” His thumb brushed my lips. “And there’s a whole other world down by the stream. We don’t have any more claim to this land then any of them. We just run the ski area.”
The towel on my head started to slide to the left. Leo caught it before it went over the railing and tossed it toward the open door. One side of his mouth turned up as he hooked his finger at my cleavage, pulling the towel away from my body. Instinctively, I moved to cover myself, but Leo was faster, catching my hands and squeezing them. “This is your home now, Daphne. I want to share it with you.”
The cold air made his slow kiss taste even sweeter. I pressed my body against his, embracing everything about him. We stayed out there kissing for a long time. Leo pulled away with a gasp, pushing my hair away from my face.
My body ached from the shift, and the rest of the day had left me exhausted. But there was one more thing that couldn’t wait. “We didn’t use anything in the shower.” We always used condoms. I’d go on birth control, but there was no such thing for does. We were meant to mate.
“I know.” Leo’s nod was small. “Does that bother you?”
I had to think about my answer. “I don’t know what will happen.” I’d actually looked up what happened when a lion mated with a doe on the internet. Everyone around here only insisted that it simply didn’t happen. Besides a few videos of animals doing the nasty on YouTube, I didn’t find anything to prove them wrong. No mixed babies. I was sad just thinking about it. “I’m not in heat anymore, but you’re my mate.”
“I want to take the next step with you.” Leo brushed his lips against my cheek. “No matter what it is.”
I wrapped my hands in Leo’s hair as he dropped to his knees in front of me. Butterfly kisses started at my neck, took a detour at my breasts, and then resumed their trip south past my belly button. His fingers started to make slow lazy circles around my sex. A moan slipped from my throat, and I leaned back against the railing as Leo brought his tongue to my clit.
Everything was in shadow anyway so I squeezed my eyes closed and focused on the sensation. Leo stilled my bucking hips, holding me completely still while continuing to taunt me with his tongue.
A howl sliced the night. My eyes flew open. “What was that?”
“Hmm?” Leo purred against my slit.
“You didn’t hear anything?” He shook his head and went back to what he doing. I pulled him away from me by his hair. “It sounded like a cougar.”
“It probably was.”
“What if they can see us?” My heart throbbed as fast as my core.
“Let them watch me make love to you.” Leo growled. “Maybe they’ll finally understand that you’re mine.”
Chapter Four
Neither of us wanted to get out of bed when the alarm went off. My head was still heavy with sleep when Leo sat up. Most mornings, I got up with him, but today, I wasn’t sure I could move.
“Stay with me,” I mumbled.
“You make a very tempting offer, but I can’t.” Leo leaned down to kiss me. “I have the little kids coming for their snowboarding boot camp. They’d be crushed if I blew them off.”
&
nbsp; “I guess that’s a good reason.” Which reminded me. “So Dakota’s got it bad for you. She’s been drawing pictures of lions constantly since Christmas. She gave me one for you.”
“Oh yeah?” Leo raised an eyebrow. “Did you tell her I’m madly in love with another woman?”
My heart swelled. “No. She’s the only one I’m willing to share you with.” I giggled. “And I may have offered your services in the snowboarding department.”
“Bring her up here. Have her spend the night. It’d be fun.”
My mother would never allow my baby sister to spend the night in lion country. I smiled sadly. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Even though I stayed in the cabin, my days were pretty full. I’d signed up for online classes this semester, and I spent a lot of time working on conditioning. I’ve been a competitive gymnast for most of my life, and I wanted to stay in the best shape possible. My dream was to qualify for the national team, and I wasn’t willing to give up on that yet.
Which made what we did last night weigh heavily on my mind. We’d see what happened.
I made coffee and oatmeal while Leo got ready for work. He was feeling it this morning, too. Neither of us were moving very fast, and if he didn’t hurry, he was going to be late.
Once he left, I cleaned up the breakfast dishes. I liked to set up my laptop on the kitchen table. I could spread out everything I needed there.
Leo forgot his gloves. Crap.
Getting dressed quickly, I hurried over to the ski area. I had to go on foot since Leo took the ATV with him. I jogged most of the way there. If Leo started his lesson, chances are I wouldn’t be able to find him. The cold didn’t affect him like it would a human, but I wanted him to be comfortable.
I made it just in time. All the kids were strapped into their snow boots, carrying their boards over to the training hill.
