A Tiger's Bounty

by Terry Bolryder

  “Right,” she said.

  “But it’s more than that. I love that you want to work with children. I want to give you some of our own. I want to grow old with you. Get to know you more and more and just be proven right that you’re absolutely perfect for me. Amber, will you grow old with me?”

  “So if we have kids, they’ll be… cubs?” she asked, nervously grasping his arms as her body felt weak just from being against him.

  “Probably,” he said, nipping her ear. “I can’t say for sure.”

  “There are a lot of things up in the air,” she said, sighing as he licked the inner shell of her ear.

  “Yes,” he said. “But the only thing not up in the air is that I love you. With every breath. Mate with me, Amber. Marry me.”

  She sighed. It had seemed too good to be true, but that was before she’d seen his tiger. Magnificent, fiery, ready to fight to the death for her.

  She’d looked in that animal’s eyes and seen everything she needed to see. Just like from the moment she’d met Jace, everything had felt so right.

  The only thing that had felt wrong was when they’d separated, and she didn’t intend to let that happen again.

  She wanted him. She’d take him. And they’d work out the details later.

  Sometimes you didn’t do the typical thing of dating a bunch of men or dating one for ten years only for him not to commit. What happened between her and Jace was nothing like she’d planned.

  But she couldn’t have imagined anything better. She put a hand up to his face, brushing his hair back, and looked into his gorgeous orange eyes.

  “Of course I’ll mate you, you silly tiger,” she said.

  So Jace grinned, swung open the door to the bedroom, threw her back on the bed, and pounced.

  Chapter Twelve

  Jace couldn’t believe his mind.

  She was his. Or at least, she was going to be.

  Right after he blew her mind.

  She lay beneath him, tantalizing curves tempting him and beautiful brown eyes eager and hungry. He felt a similar hunger deep in his soul, one that would only be satiated by her pleasure. A yearning toward his mate and his mate alone.

  He swept off her T-shirt and jeans and took in with awe the sight her beautiful body as he straddled her legs. So hot. So damn hot.

  Jace couldn’t wait any longer. He’d been thinking about Amber all day, and seeing her like this only drove him crazier with want.

  He extended a claw on each hand and sliced the straps of her bra with absolute precision, tossing the pieces to the side and revealing the swell of her perfect breasts.

  “Hey, that was one of my only—” She tried to protest playfully.

  “We’ll buy more,” he cut her off just as his mouth came over her nipple, drawing a delicious moan from her lips. Jace loved the feel of her skin as his tongue ran over both soft circles, loved the feel of them as they became small, pointed tips, loved the motion of her body as it writhed beneath him and her hands grasped his shoulders with each kiss, each lick.

  Truly, nothing in this world could be more perfect than his mate. And he felt lucky that he would have the sacred honor to show her exactly that, each and every day, for the rest of their lives.

  As he caressed her breasts, Amber’s hips pressed into Jace, making him groan with anticipation, thinking of the moment when they could be one. He brought his hand down her body and underneath the soft panties she was wearing and stroked up her center. She gasped with pleasure at the sensation.

  Her scent was strong in the air now, wild and fresh and floral and sumptuous. His tiger roared with approval and satisfaction for its mate.

  “This…” she said breathlessly, pawing at the hem of his shirt, “gone.”

  Jace wasn’t going to be one to not oblige his mate, so he tore off the shirt for her and watched with pride as her eyes widened and her hands played for a moment with the bulge of his muscles.

  Then he stroked over her center again, harder this time, and she grasped onto him with surprising strength as he moved into a heated tempo with his hand.

  He could feel her arousal, could sense the build and knew exactly how fast she wanted it and how quickly she was nearing climax. As his fingertip found her clit and his tongue lavished her breasts with kisses over and over again, her breathing raced and her body tensed more and more.

  Jace slowed slightly, and he felt her body come near to the precipice, but not crest it. He kissed between her breasts as he caressed them with one hand while his other hand at her hips slowed and held her gently, drawing out that line between delicious pleasure and tension so tight it felt like pain, but wasn’t painful.

  Amber’s head arched back with each touch, no matter how light, and her grip became tighter and her nails dug into his back from the closeness of her release. She mewled with intense satisfaction and got louder and louder as Jace took her closer than she’d ever been to the edge.

  Then with one slow flick of his finger over her clit, Amber came undone in his arms, screaming his name as he held her, feeling the writhing of her body as it released with incredible force the orgasm he’d been building for her.

  There was nothing more beautiful than this. Ever. Jace could feel the love he had for her flowing freely as she climaxed, and he knew without a shadow of a doubt that he could never love another human being more than her, not for a million years.

  As Amber’s breath slowed and her heart stopped racing, Jace tore off her panties, the only thought on his mind making her speechless with pleasure.

  “Wait. I want to try something,” Amber said, stopping him before he could taste her.

  Jace stopped, and Amber tried to roll him over by pushing at one of his shoulders and forcing her hips against him. Once he realized what she was trying to do, he rolled over accommodatingly as she came on top of him. She smiled with satisfaction, seemingly enjoying the place where she could see and feel him better.

  Damn, there was that feistiness again. Jace hoped he’d continue to see more of it come out as they were together over the years.

  “You haven’t given me a chance to do this yet,” she said as she made lazy trails with her hands over the hard rise of his muscles, outlining the swells of them and feeling the divots between his pecs and abs and tracing the shapes with satisfaction.

  Jace just watched his beautiful, naked mate atop him, enjoying the feel of her soft hips over his as she got her fill of what she wanted, the silky glow of her dusky skin, awaiting the moment when he would once again be pleasuring her.

  When Amber was done feeling his muscles, she slowly undid the large buckle of his jeans, making his adrenaline run faster with each second his hands and mouth weren’t on her. He craved the feel of her skin, craved her pleasure more than he craved food or water or even air.

  Amber just smiled wickedly at him as she drew down the zipper of his pants and slowly pulled off his jeans and underwear. It was as if she could sense she was teasing him, drawing him tighter with need for her.

  True, he could pounce her now and make her scream his name. But tigers were nothing if not patient predators, capable of waiting and stalking their prey. Jace knew his mate’s satisfaction would only be greater by letting her think she was in control.

  By the time Jace’s clothing was off, he was painfully hard for her. She came over him again and positioned her hips above him, then came down slowly. As Jace came inside her, Amber’s eyes rolled back with pleasure, and he groaned, the feel of her wetness surrounding him almost making the animal inside him lose control.

  “Wow, I’m never going to get used to how amazing that feels,” Amber said, dark-brown eyes smiling with lust.

  “Good,” he replied, his hands caressing her soft thighs and coming up to squeeze her breasts above him. As he lightly pinched her nipples, her back arched from the sensation and she moaned lightly in sensual agony.

  Just because Amber was on top didn’t mean he was going to stop pleasuring her in every way possible.

/>   “Stop distracting me,” Amber said with an intoxicated smile, then lifted her hips slowly over his and pushed back down onto him.

  The feel between them was better than Jace could have even imagined. With no separation, there was nothing but delicious, slick heat and wondrous electricity that coursed through both their bodies.

  Amber repeated the motion again, but this time, Jace pushed his hips up into her, doubling the speed at which they went, drawing a ragged gasp from his mate. Her entire body tensed, and he could tell her orgasm was building even faster than before. As she moved into a slow rhythm, crying out in pleasure as she did, Jace focused on timing his thrusts in the way that would feel the best for her.

  The sight and feel of their two bodies meeting was enough to make Jace lose it if he allowed himself to; his mate was just so damned beautiful.

  As Amber moved faster and faster with Jace, her body trembled more with each delectable thrust. Jace knew she was ready, and he reached a hand between them to stroke over her clit to punctuate her pleasure even further. After one, two, then a third stroke, she pressed firmly down over him, sheathing him completely as she came over him, arching far back as her hands grasped his pecs like hard, round anchors.

  It took all of Jace’s will to not come with her as she screamed out in release as she clenched around him, nearly drawing his own release out of him. Instead, he focused on the supernal feeling of satisfaction at the sight of her naked body, glowing with a light sheen of sweat, tightened and coming with such intensity that she seemed lost to all reality for a moment. Lost in all-encompassing pleasure that Jace vowed he would give her as many times as she would be able to receive it in their lives.

  Once Amber finally came down from the high of ecstasy, it was clear she was exhausted from the pleasure of it but still not yet fully satisfied. With one swift motion, Jace turned Amber over to rest on her back, supporting her at her hips as he moved.

  “Fine, you win,” she said, her voice heady and sounding not at all disappointed by the turn of events.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll make it up to you,” Jace said, grinning as he nibbled at her ear.

  He was still so turned on by his mate, so hard inside her. And he could feel her wetness, how ready she was to come one more time.

  This was it. Then they would be mated forever.

  Jace couldn’t think of anything that made him happier than that thought.

  He started with a slow, teasing pace as he slowly came out of Amber and then thrust back into her. She groaned as he did so, and he caressed her soft breast with one hand as he supported the weight of his body with the other. As he moved a little faster, loving the feel of her as their bodies came together, his hand came lower and wrapped around the top of her soft thigh.

  As Jace pumped inside her, he suddenly felt his claws extend. As if by instinct, the kind of thing you know but don’t actually know, Jace lightly traced the tips of his claws around her thigh, making a complete circle around her leg as she moaned with every additional thrust.

  When he was done, Jace felt the tiger inside him roar with energy as his body hummed with sensation. He pushed faster and faster, each time making Amber gasp harder as she began to move her hips in time with him.

  Jace could feel the intensity between them, could feel both their bodies drawn wire tight. It felt like his entire being was burning, his nerves flowing with electricity that coursed through his body and down his back to the place where their hips met.

  With one last push, Amber tightened once again around him, and her hands reached for his body. She called his name, and Jace lost all control, all perception and concept of the present as he jerked inside her, all the way in, spilling his seed into her.

  Together, they both came as one, bodies writhing in the throes of erotic, intense release. Jace could feel his mate with him as she came, arching back into the pillow and holding on for dear life as his own body throbbed with pleasure.

  Even as he could feel the pressure lessen and the release slowly dim, leaving him full of pleasurable ecstasy and his mate sighing with satisfaction, the happiness of the moment only grew brighter at the prospect of waking up tomorrow with his mate and having her with him day in and day out.

  After Amber came down completely from her release and they both exchanged I love yous, Jace came out of her and grabbed a towel, cleaning them both so they could have the rest of the night to do whatever they liked. But as he tossed the towel in the laundry hamper, he noticed something on Amber that hadn’t been there before tonight.

  “Whoa,” Jace said in surprise, looking down at Amber’s leg.

  “Whoa what?” Amber said lazily, still exhausted with pleasure.

  “You should see this,” he said, trying to hold back a smile at what he saw. He hadn’t realized what had happened earlier while they were having sex and only now realized what it meant.

  He picked Amber up and carried her to the mirror in the bathroom and set her down when she asked.

  On her right leg was a thin line of tiger stripes, horizontal and straight with just the slightest zigzag that ran the entire curve of her thigh, just a few inches above the knee.

  “What is that?” Amber asked with wonder.

  “It’s the mark that shows you’re my mate. That you belong to me and I belong to you.”

  “Strange,” she said as she examined the tattoo-like stripes, “but pretty awesome.”

  “I honestly didn’t know I’d done it until now, but I do remember hearing cats mark their mates. It didn’t hurt, did it? It shouldn’t have. I’d never hurt you,” Jace said, wrapping his arms around his mate and holding her tight to him. “Does it bother you?” he asked, worried.

  “No. I like it. The thought of having something to commemorate a night like this makes me happy,” she said, nestling against his chest as she laid her head on him.

  “And commemorating the start of forever with you,” Jace added.

  “So if you’re a bounty hunter, I guess I was the target this time?” Amber said humorously, gazing at Jace in the mirror.

  He tried to suppress a laugh, both from exasperation and amusement. “How long have you had that one cooking up?” he asked.

  “Ever since you told me about your job earlier. I was just looking for the right opportunity,” she said with a big, silly grin that made Jace warm inside all over again.

  “How about we get some dinner for my mate?”

  “Yes, but…” Amber tried to reply but was interrupted by a long yawn. “First, a nap,” she said, happy but exhausted.

  Jace picked up his mate and took her back to the bedroom, laying her down carefully and wrapping the sheets around them as she swiftly drifted off to sleep.

  As Amber slept, Jace remained awake, listening for the quiet beat of her heart and feeling the soft rise and fall of her chest. For the first time in his life, he was grateful for his career for an entirely unique reason.

  It had brought him Amber. And somehow, through all the craziness that was life, they’d made it out together with the promise of the rest of their lives together.

  Jace had found the ultimate bounty after all.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Epilogue

  A few weeks later, Jace got a call from his older brother inviting them both to dinner that night with him and their younger brother.

  Jace had explained to Amber earlier that this was a customary thing, but since none of them had mates up until recently, there wasn’t any precedent on whether or not it should include significant others.

  Carter, the oldest, and Jace were both in agreement that it should.

  By now, Jace and Amber had packed up most of their things in the renovated bomb shelter that the two of them had been living in, and were making the final preparations to move into their new, secure home outside of the city. The dragons that Jace worked with had been more than compliant with Jace’s request, in light of all of the good he had done in the past years working as a bounty hunter for them.

>   Thankfully, ever since the night they had been mated, Jace had taken off work, so Amber had been able to enjoy her man all to herself.

  Though enjoy was putting it very lightly, based on how hot the sex was day in and day out.

  As Amber got ready, she took another look at the huge, sparkling diamond ring on her finger that Jace had picked out for her prior to their engagement.

  Working for dragons paid well, apparently.

  After they were settled in at the new place they would have a private ceremony to invite a few friends and family. But for now she was content.

  “You ready to go?” Jace asked as he pulled on a blue jacket that was a little more formal than the leather he usually wore but still strained from the size of his large muscles.

  “Almost,” she replied as she finished putting on her lipstick and then snapped the cap back on.

  “Gorgeous,” Jace said, coming behind her and putting his hands on her waist.

  “Do you think they’ll like me?” Amber asked, uncertain of what to expect at dinner.

  Jace paused for a moment. “You already met Carter,” he reminded her.

  “I know, but this is different. This time I’m meeting them as your mate,” she said.

  “I don’t see any reason why they wouldn’t love you. You’re perfect in every way,” he said matter-of-factly.

  “Ha ha, so you say,” she said playfully, enjoying his embrace as he rocked back and forth lightly with her hips. Despite his hard, tough exterior, Jace really was the perfect lover. Sweet, protective, and very attentive.

  Jace’s phone dinged, reminding them they were late and interrupting their quiet reverie together. Amber grabbed her own jacket as Jace helped pull it on, and they were gone.

  The place they were headed for was Cafe 54, a moderately upscale restaurant on the east side of town. Jace had insisted they go somewhere nice to celebrate with the family, even if it was just his two brothers.

  When they arrived, one person was already seated at the table. Based on the description that Jace had given, it was definitely Kel, their younger brother. Though in fact, he was even more striking than she could have imagined, with bright blue eyes, short blond hair, and a stoic demeanor.