Roman's Gold (Underground Heat, Book 1)

by Ann Gimpel

  Devon moved between her thighs, took hold of himself, and guided his cock inside her. She felt herself stretch to accommodate him and raised her legs, locking them around his hips. He supported himself on his arms and just looked at her. Hunger blazed at the bottom of his dark eyes.

  Kate understood. Being a shifter was like that. No matter how much sex you had with humans, you still lusted after your own kind. She put her hands on his hips and rocked herself against him. Her clit was on fire. She rubbed it against the base of his wonderful cock until it exploded. Fire seared her. Her muscles clenched around him over and over.

  His gaze never left her body as it convulsed around him. “So beautiful,” he murmured. “I wanted to watch you come just like I do in my dreams.” He moved a little, drew partway out, and pressed himself deep inside her again. “I was worried I’d come too soon.”

  She laughed. “I wasn’t. I knew you’d be hard pressed to beat me to the draw. You’ve been in my dreams too. But the real thing is ever so much better.” She thrust her hips upward. “I want you to fuck me. Come on, Devon. Hard and fast. I want to feel you come inside me.”

  He made that wonderful sound again, low in the back of his throat. He withdrew until just the tip of him teased her and drove himself home, then did it again. He leaned down so his face was next to hers, breath hot against her neck. He closed his mouth over hers and kissed her deeply.

  Kate met him stroke for stroke, feeling another climax build deep in her belly. She was so lost in passion, she almost didn’t notice the soft fur sprouting against her legs and arms. Her eyes snapped open. At first, she thought he was shifting, and then she understood she was shifting right along with him. Their fur, his slightly more golden, mingled together. Her vision was altered because she looked through cat eyes with their slit pupils. She hadn’t ever shifted spontaneously before.

  She broke away from their kiss. “Holy crap! Devon.”

  He opened his eyes, pushed up onto his arms, and looked at her. Something in her tone must have gotten through. He stopped moving. He cock twitched inside her, heavy with need. “What? Condom’s still—”

  “Ssssh, it will be okay. I don’t want to ruin this with a bunch of talk. You’re shifting. Your eyes are unbelievable. I’m shifting, too. We’ll finish this in our other forms.”

  A panicked look washed over his face. His gaze darted to his body. He yanked away from her, jumped off the bed, and stood, panting. “Not possible. I don’t have enough shifter blood.” He shook his head. “My eyes are all funny.” He flicked at tawny fur growing thicker by the minute on his torso and limbs. “I don’t even know what I’ll be. I mean, I’ve never…”

  Kate got to her feet. “Just let it happen. It’s easy. The most natural thing in the world. Let everything go. As far gone as you are, you couldn’t stop it now if you tried.” She grinned. “Looking at your fur, I’m betting you’re a mountain cat just like me.”

  “Will we still be able to talk?”

  She nodded. “Yes, but in our minds.” Kate sucked in a breath. She reached for her animal form, completing the transformation. Once she had her paws under her, she turned her butt toward Devon and arched her back suggestively.

  A wonderfully feline growl sounded from behind her, low and throaty. Kate’s whiskers twitched. Nothing like a male cat on the prowl. She didn’t have to look to know his shift was complete. She braced herself and took the weight of his body, glorying in it. Teeth closed over her neck where it joined her shoulder. It had been over a hundred years since she’d had a shifter partner. Maybe that was why her control had gotten away from her.

  Just as outrageously outsized as he’d been when he was human, he plumbed her, barbs and all. She hissed and whined her pleasure, writhing against him. His cock jumped inside her and jumped again. His teeth bit deeper. He let go and roared his passion and delight. Her own climax rocked her, rippling along her nerve endings. The barbs on his cock ramped up her pleasure tenfold. Nothing was quite as sizzling and untamed as shifted sex. Nothing.

  It took time for him to slip from her body. The barbs were mildly uncomfortable when he withdrew, but what they’d shared was worth it. Once he was free, she turned to look at him. A husky purr reverberated from deep in her belly—the feline equivalent of a wolf whistle. “Wow. You’re even more gorgeous as a cat than you were as a human.”

  He shook his head back and forth and shifted his weight from paw to paw, obviously uncomfortable with his four-legged stance. “I—I need to be human again. Now. Tell me what to do.”

  “Think of your human body. Visualize it and you’ll be there. Once you get used to—”

  The edges of his cat body shimmered. Kate gave her own body the command to shift right along with his.

  “Christ!” Devon sank into a heap on the floor. He tugged what was left of the condom off himself and dropped it on the rug. “What the fuck happened to it? It’s shredded.”

  “Cat cocks have barbs.” At the desperate look on his face, she hastened to add, “Hey, it will be all right.” Kate sat across from him, leaned forward, and stroked his thigh. “Really it will. And it will get easier to change over—”

  “I don’t want it to get easier.” Anguish rode beneath his words. “In fact, I don’t ever want it to happen again.”

  Understanding crashed into her. Of course he wouldn’t. He’d just transitioned from one of the hunters to one of the hunted. She took a measured breath and chose her words carefully. “I think you shifted this time because you were excited. Strong emotions can force a shift. That’s how most of us learned to shift as children. Someone baited us until we found our animal forms. After you find it once, it’s easier the next time. Soon it’s second nature.”

  “But I don’t have enough blood to shift into anything,” he protested. “I’m only a quarter.”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know what to say. You are pretty old for an initial shift. Now I think about it, I’ve never heard of something like this happening—”

  “That does not make me feel better,” he snapped.

  Of course it wouldn’t. Kate kicked herself and took a deep breath. “Is there anything that’s changed lately?”

  He slammed his forehead against a hand. “Of course. Stupid of me not to…”

  Kate waited, but he didn’t say anything else. Finally, she prodded, “…stupid of you not to what?”

  He showed her the inside of his forearm where a bruise was fading. “The police force insisted I take a series of intravenous infusions. It was a prerequisite for working here. I never asked what was in them.” A muscle in his jaw jerked. “Figured I wouldn’t understand all that chemical mumbo-jumbo anyway.”

  He blew out a breath. “They give us stuff to alter our genetics when we sign on as officers. It creates an edge in the field, helps keep us alive. I got that series of shots fifteen years ago. Whatever was in the recent infusions was supposed make us more sensitive to shifters.”

  “Hmph.” Her eyes narrowed in thought. “Looks like when the drug combines with shifter blood, it strengthens it. Once upon a time, scientists would have wanted to know things like that.”

  “I’m sure as hell not going to tell them.” He dropped his head into a hand. It muffled his next words. “You said strong emotions can make me shift.”

  “Yes, but you’ll learn to control it.”

  “How long will that take? Police work is nothing but strong emotions.” He raised his head and locked his dark, tortured gaze onto hers. “Fear, anger, pity…” He ticked them off on his fingers. “That’s just for starters. There’s not a day on the force where I don’t end up feeling strongly about something.”

  “I don’t know how long. I learned when I was young. All of us have our first shift right around puberty. It might be easier then, or harder. I just don’t know.” She spread her hands in front of her. “I’m sorry. I know it seems like the end of the world—”

  “It is the end—of my world, anyway,” he growled. “May as well stop by the
station house and turn in my badge. It’s better than being in the middle of working a crime scene with a partner and turning into a mountain lion.” His hands fisted in his lap.

  An idea took root. “Maybe you could work for our side—” she began.

  He shook his head. His hair flew around his face. “I can’t talk about this anymore. None of it.” He lurched to his feet and stumbled into his clothes. His eyes looked haunted. “Is there a back way out of here? I don’t want to see any more people than I absolutely have to. Not the shape I’m in.”

  She nodded, got to her feet, and wrapped herself in a robe. “This way.” She wanted to talk to him, to reassure him, but he had such a closed look on his face, she thought it best not to try. He wouldn’t hear her anyway.

  She led him into her small, personal room behind the bedroom and ran her hand over the electronic lock. “It’s just down the stairs. The door at the bottom unlocks along with this one.”

  Devon turned to her. He pulled her roughly against him. “This is my own fault.” His voice rumbled against her hair. “I wanted you so much, I broke all the rules.” His arms tightened. “Don’t worry, Kate. No matter what happens, I won’t turn you in.”

  He kissed her forehead, turned, and ran down the steps. Once she heard the bottom door close, she activated the lock and walked slowly back to the bedroom. It smelled like sex, shifter sex. Raw and musky. Her eyes welled. He was the best, the most perfect shifter she’d met in several human lifetimes.

  “He’s our mated one!” her cat crowed. “Let’s go after him and bring him back.”

  “No, it can’t be. You’re just lonely—like me.”

  “I’m right,” the cat insisted. “That’s why you shifted spontaneously.”

  Kate ignored her. Shifter mates were scarce as hen’s teeth. It was why so many of them married humans. Besides, Devon didn’t want her, not anymore. He had when he’d shown up on her front porch, and pretty badly. If the price for sex with her was shifting, though, all bets were off. She’d seen it in his eyes: horror and disgust with what he’d become. No, if he were truly her shifter mate, he’d have welcomed her with open arms.

  “You’re wrong,” the cat insisted. “You caught him at a bad moment. Give him some time to get used to the idea—”

  “Stop. Just stop. How could my mated one be a cop? They’re the enemy. Or haven’t you been paying attention?”

  The cat subsided into a grumbling snarl.

  Kate went on autopilot and stripped the bed. It was either that or curl in a ball on the floor and howl her misery. With her arms full of bedding, she started for the small washer and dryer. His scent filled her nostrils. She buried her nose in the sheets and changed her mind about washing them—at least for now. If his smell was all she had left of him, she wanted to hang onto it. Her heart ached. So did her pussy, but it was a sweet pain.

  Kate did a slipshod job making the bed. A few minutes later, she stood in the shower. An idea shot through her as hot water sluiced down her body. She didn’t understand all the ramifications, but there had to be some. Once she was dry and dressed, she settled at her computer terminal and called the underground on their secure frequency. Max’s face appeared on her screen.

  She sketched out what had happened with Devon. It wasn’t easy because Max kept interrupting. A tall, lean man with Germanic features and shoulder-length blonde hair, Maximillian Sigayev gestured with his hands while he talked. His blue eyes were intent, gaze never leaving her. In his animal form, he was a Russian wolf with an almost white coat and the same sky-blue eyes. He steepled his fingers. “So there is a drug which could make us stronger. And make more of us from those with weak mixed blood.”

  Kate nodded. “That’s what it looks like. I’m not certain how old Devon is since I wiped his data off my computer, but he has to be somewhere between his mid-thirties and forty. A first shift at that age is unheard of.”

  “I agree.” He eyed her. “So long as you called me, how is everything else? Food supplies holding up?”

  Kate snaked her tongue out of her mouth and licked her lips. She hadn’t told the underground that Tara, Joe, and Mike were gone. Apparently the three had done a good job of hiding if Max still assumed they were with her. “There have been a few, er, changes.”

  A corner of his mouth turned down. “Spill it, Roman. I don’t have all day.”

  “…so, I left them in the woods with most of the food. It wasn’t like I had much of a choice. They would have left anyway.”

  Max nodded. “I understand. Don’t blame yourself. They haven’t hit my radar screen, so they must be all right, at least for now. I have to run. Your intel about the drug may prove to be our salvation.”

  “How so?”

  “Not sure just yet, but you might have struck gold, Miss Roman. I need to run it past a couple of our biological scientists.”

  The screen flickered and grayed out. Kate sat and stared at it for a while before she got to her feet. She did her usual cursory check that her office was ready for her next client before letting herself out the door. It was dark outside. She glanced at her wrist computer. Sheesh. How’d it get to be eight o’clock? There were several unopened messages, but she’d tend to them later. If she tarried, she’d miss the last bus. Taxis were ridiculously expensive. Kate dropped her wrist computer into a pocket and lengthened her stride.

  As she jogged toward the bus stop, she thought about Devon. He’d been even dishier in the flesh than in her dreams. His shifter status was like icing on an already toothsome cake. She felt torn. The attraction between them was strong. On his side as well or he wouldn’t have bent his standards to buy time with her.

  She sighed. I’ve got to stop living in Never-Never Land. He doesn’t want me anymore. Couldn’t wait to get away… And even if he did, it would be foolish for me to link my star to a cop.

  “I tell you,” the cat growled, “he is our mated one. Stop fighting it.”

  “Be quiet. You’ll get us killed. He’s a cop. His job is to capture us.”

  Kate waited for some pushback, but the cat was apparently done talking. Her thoughts returned to Devon. His professional life was all about following orders. As law enforcement, it would almost have to be. Despite his assurance he’d never turn her in, she wasn’t certain his ingrained sense of duty wouldn’t trip him up—and snare her right along with him.

  She waved her arms at the bus and ran hard. The doors swooshed open. The attendant gave her a dirty look. The buses didn’t need drivers. The city had run them without any human assistance until homeless had taken up residence in the public transportation system. Between crapping in the busses and heckling people who simply wanted a ride from Point A to Point B, bums had practically disabled the bus system. It took a while, but the powers that be decided it was cheaper to assign a person to each bus.

  She flashed her wrist computer app at the attendant and ran her screen over the glass. It beeped and debited ten credits from her account. Kate glanced up the aisle. Not so many people tonight. She worked her way to a window seat, fell into it, and tried to empty her mind of Devon. Just when she thought she’d succeeded, her cat piped up, “He’s only a cop because he didn’t understand he was one of us.”

  Chapter 7

  Devon felt like someone had kicked him in the stomach. He tried to ignore the pain, but it had done nothing but get worse since he’d left Kate. His mouth flooded with saliva.

  He doubled over and vomited into a trash can on a street corner. Spasms wracked his body. He heaved again and again until the only thing left was bile. Feeling shaky, he drew the back of a hand across his mouth and shambled toward his flat. Passersby gave him a wide berth while he hurled his guts out. Probably thought he had some horrible disease. Or he was a junkie.

  He tried not to think about anything, but images of mountain lions rose to taunt him. He saw himself mounted behind Kate, also in her cat form, thrusting into her. Ill and shaky as he was, damn if his cock didn’t twitch. What kind of sick son of a bi
tch am I?

  He glanced around him. Thank God it was only another half block home. It had taken nearly two hours to travel what should have taken half that time. He wanted to lock the door and never come out. Never.

  He dragged his body up the steps, dredged the key out of a pocket, and let himself inside. Feeling hollow and out of control, Devon bent over the kitchen sink to rinse the taste of sickness from his mouth. He fell into a kitchen chair, peeled a banana, and ate it. Maybe it wouldn’t come right back up. He had to eat something; he was dizzy.

  He stared at his hands. His vision blurred; they turned into paws with tawny fur and long, lethal, curved claws. He blinked and they were just hands again. He thought about trying to shift so he could develop some sort of control over what it felt like, but discarded the idea. What if he screwed up and couldn’t get back? His heartbeat sounded loud in his ears, telling him how rattled he was.

  “No.” He spoke aloud to try to calm himself. “If I try to shift, I should be in the hills. At least there are other mountain lions there. If I couldn’t find my human form again, there’d be game to hunt.”

  The banana seemed to be staying put. He ate another and put water on the stove to heat for coffee. He hated microwaves. He’d found the stove in a falling-down second hand store and wired the electrical lines in tandem to accept its two hundred twenty volt plug.

  Devon massaged his temples. There was so much he didn’t understand. He couldn’t look up the sort of things he needed to know about being a shifter on the vid feed. No privacy. Anyone could track his browsing history. His mother had two sisters, shifters like her. And his grandmother was still alive. Her shifter blood was pure. Somewhere in the back of his mind he recalled shifters lived a long time. He didn’t know exactly how long since they never talked about things like that—at least not with him.