by Amanda Jones
“Mike,” I groaned as he slipped his finger inside of me. He slowly thrust in and out while he pushed the heel of his hand against my clit, making me writhe around underneath him.
“Come on, baby,” he whispered against my neck as he increased the pace of his finger and hand. I held onto his wrist for dear life as I tried to absorb all of the sensations he was pulling from my body. A woman in the pack had once told me that during sex you sometimes go through a “small death”, and if that was what was heading my way then I was ready to die. Mike pushed harder against me and a wave of pleasure slammed into my body, so fierce and strong that I was unable to breathe or make noise for a few moments. But then I was screaming, and Mike was kissing me while he continued to stroke me and I shook uncontrollably.
“Oh my God,” I panted as the wave subsided, leaving me feeling weightless. Mike spread my legs apart and the tip of his penis was at my center.
“Look at me,” he whispered against my lips. I opened my eyes and he pulled back an inch as he stared down at me. He pushed his tip just inside of me and stopped.
“I love you, Mila,” he said and I started to cry. “I loved you back then, I loved you the entire time we’ve been apart, and I love you now.” He kissed my tears as he pushed a little further into me. “I’ll never stop loving you,” he vowed and he kissed me gently and pushed harder.
“I love you too, Michael,” I whispered as he kept kissing me all over my face, licking my tears and nuzzling my lips.
“You’re so tight, baby,” he said and then he stopped moving. I froze as I looked up at him.
“I’ve never been with anyone else before,” I admitted to him, and he closed his eyes and groaned, gathering me even closer than before. He ran his hands up and down my body before kissing me once more.
“That is the hottest thing I’ve ever heard in my life,” he said in a throaty voice and I smiled at him, happier than I ever remember being.
“Go ahead, my love,” I encouraged him, knowing that he would be worried about hurting me now.
“Are you sure?” he asked as he cradled my face in his hands.
“Yes,” I whispered against his lips and he thrust hard into me, causing us both to moan. Several thrusts later he was fully embedded inside of me and again I couldn’t imagine a better feeling. Then he started moving in and out and I realized I had a lot to learn, because this was heaven.
“I love you so much,” he said into my ear as he thrust powerfully into me, pushing me down into the mattress with his weight. The wounds on my back bothered me a little but not enough to stop this deliciousness.
“I want to be with you for the rest of my life, Mila,” he said, thrusting faster now as he placed one hand behind my right knee and pushed down so I was wider for him.
“Mike,” I groaned again, totally incapable of full sentences. I purred, I couldn’t help it and Mike purred louder in response, and suddenly I was close to the small death again. It was fast now, and hard, and it felt so good that I thought I might cry again but this time from happiness. My next thought was frozen in time because a tingling sensation swept over my body, clenching and unclenching my tunnel around Mike, and he roared in my ear as he shuddered and came inside of me. He collapsed on top of me and I cherished his weight pushing me down. My dream had come true.
Sometime later we both stirred. We had fallen asleep tangled up together, and I never wanted this to end. I wanted Mike for the rest of my life. The fact that he shifted into his panther form no longer mattered to me because love trumped all else. Besides, he was using his panther side to help people. I was proud of him for that.
“Baby,” he whispered in the dark.
“Yes,” I whispered back, secretly happy that he would use that endearment with me.
“We have so much more to talk about. Plans to make. But I have to go out tonight,” he said apologetically, pushing my hair off of my face and bending down to kiss me lightly.
“It’s all right,” I said, and it truly was. Just because I had endured pain from my panther father didn’t mean that the panther was to blame. It was my father that made that choice. I felt peaceful for the first time that I could remember since Mike had left.
“I…want to talk to you about bonding,” he said softly and I froze beneath him. Bonding was the ritual panthers used to bind themselves together for life. He leaned down and ran his fingers over the skin above my heart.
“I can’t believe you didn’t bond with anyone else in all that time,” he said while I stared up at him.
“It’s always been you, Mike,” I whispered back.
“Thank you,” he said and kissed me again. “You are my life, Mila.” I hugged him tight and sighed contentedly against him. Suddenly, my life was perfect.
“I’ll be back soon,” he whispered as he got out of bed and dressed. I heard the front door open and close and then I was asleep.
***
A loud banging startled me awake. I was disoriented and confused, wondering where I was and what was making that noise. Then I heard a door opening and I realized I was in Mike’s condo and he was out rescuing people. And someone was coming in.
I crawled out of bed and slipped on my dress and shoes as I heard a man walking carefully down the hall. Just as I reached for something to hit him with, his scent reached my nose.
Jonathan.
“Mila?” he called out urgently. I turned on the light and there he was looking agitated, his golden eyes unusually bright.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s Erik,” he said and I felt faint. “He’s here in the city, and he’s arguing with Mike. I can hear them.”
“Oh my God.”
“Let’s go,” he said and he grabbed my arm and pulled me down the hall, into the elevator and outside the building.
“Where are they?” We were running now, with me doing the best I could in Beth’s sandals.
“Boston Common. Only three blocks away.”
After a minute I could hear them, too. No one else was out, it was the middle of the night, and the sounds of the argument carried through the air. I caught a word here and there.
“…so smart…can’t have her…” That was Erik, my father.
“…her alone…kill…” And oh God, that was Mike.
A minute later we could see them in the middle of the park, lit up by the gas lights all around. There were three of them and I instantly recognized my brother, Luca. I could smell his nervousness before we reached them. But Mike and my father were facing off with no fear, which terrified me. Mike had shifted back to human form, so from a distance anyone would think it was just people talking. But they would be very wrong.
They heard us running up and turned toward us. My father raked his eyes up and down my body, taking in Beth’s blue sundress and my tousled hair. He inhaled deeply.
“You bastard,” he growled to Mike and if not for Luca holding him back they would have been fighting.
“I love him, Father. And he loves me,” I said, defying him and increasing his desire to punish me.
“Don’t talk to me about love, you little slut,” he sneered and Mike lunged at him, tackling him around his mid-section. They fell to the ground and I heard the agonizing sounds of fists hitting human flesh. Finally, Luca and Jonathan were able to separate them.
“Don’t talk to her like that again,” yelled Mike as he struggled against Jonathan’s arms. “Next time I’ll shift and I will fucking kill you. And believe me when I say that this time you will die.”
“Oh, please,” my father said. “As if I care at all about Mila. She was always just a way to get back at you.”
“Get back at me for what?” Mike finally shook Jonathan off but he stood still, waiting.
“For embarrassing me in front of the pack, of course. I had a plan and you ruined it,” he yelled, seemingly losing his grip on reality. His eyes were wild and darting all over the park. “Once I killed Jonathan and his family, I would be alpha. But you had to jump in and
save him,” he sneered again, indicating Jonathan with a swing of his head. “So I kept her from you. I knew you wanted her. You were rather pathetic really, panting after her like you did. I could have let her find you. But instead I kept her. And I punished her everyday for loving you,” he said with satisfaction as I stood there, feeling numb from his words. I knew he had never loved me, but he was so evil it was chilling.
“The pack has never really seen me as a true alpha, you know. They listen to me and do as I say, but I can feel their contempt. And it’s all because of you. You’ve kept me from being the true alpha, the thing I wanted most in the world. So I came back to get the one thing you want,” he said ominously and before anyone could react, he had grabbed me and pulled my back to his front, his claws out and up against my throat.
“Father, no!” yelled my brother Luca, as both Jonathan and Mike started turning around us in circles. My father turned with them, in a slow macabre dance.
“Let. Her. Go,” Mike said in a low voice, a growl accenting his words. I could see that his claws were out also.
“I don’t think so. I think I’ll cut her right here,” he said as he placed his claws right above my heart and I struggled to stay silent. “I see that you’re not man enough to have bonded with her yet,” he laughed in a maniacal way, and Mike and Jonathan exchanged glances. My father jerked me to the left and I struggled to stay upright.
“Father, stop this!” Luca yelled. “I’ve done everything you’ve asked of me. I’ve ignored Mila and treated her like an outcast. My own sister!”
“You only did that because I told you I would kill her otherwise, Luca,” my father said with disgust. I sucked in a breath, my heart thumping to hear him speak so casually about killing me. I tried to move his hand away from my neck where his claws now touched.
“You told me we were going to try and bring her home,” Luca continued, his own disgust about our father evident in his voice.
“Oh Luca, you disappoint me with your lack of imagination,” my father drawled, his arm around my waist squeezing me tighter. All the while that my brother and father argued, Mike and Jonathan were watching closely and I knew that Mike was going to try and save me. But I couldn’t let him do that. I couldn’t let him risk himself for me.
“I’ll go back with you, Father,” I said as I stared at Mike and our eyes caught. My heart ached at the thought of leaving him.
“No, Mila,” Mike said with finality.
“Ordering her around already, are you?” my father taunted.
“You should know all about that,” said Luca, making my father turn toward him and away from Mike. I stumbled again with his movements and I hissed as one of his claws penetrated the skin at my neck.
“Shut up, Luca!” my father screamed, his body shaking with his rage. I started crying as I realized what my brother had done to try to protect me over the years, and what he was doing now. He was distracting my father so that Mike and Jonathan could get into place to attack my father. But I knew it was useless. As soon as any one of them advanced, my father would slit my throat.
“It doesn’t matter anyway, Mila,” my father said in a conversational tone, slipping out of his rage so quickly that I knew he was unbalanced. “I don’t want you anymore.” He pressed his claws harder against my skin, and blood started to drip down my neck.
“Michael,” I whispered and then I was on the ground, the air knocked out of me as Mike wrestled with my father. Luca reached down and grabbed me up, tearing off his shirt and pressing it to my neck. Jonathan got behind my father and held his hands behind his back.
“Time’s up, old man,” Mike said as he punched him over and over again. Soon my father was unconscious and Jonathan let him fall to the ground in a heap. Mike ran over to me.
“Are you okay?” he asked as he wrapped me up in his arms and hugged me tight.
“I’m fine, I promise,” I said as he pulled the shirt away from my neck. He roared loudly and I shushed him, clinging to him.
“What are we going to do with him?” asked Jonathan, and Luca and I looked at each other. I pulled away from Mike and walked up to Luca. Our relationship had been so strained over the years and it was all because of my father. My father was poison.
“Mila,” he said with regret and sadness on his face and I hugged him. His strong arms came around me and another part of my heart healed itself.
“You can’t go back,” I told him. “You’re coming with us.” He looked down at me and then over to Jonathan and Mike.
“Yes, you should come,” Jonathan said and it was decided. I squeezed my brother once more and then turned toward Mike.
“We can just leave him here,” I said.
“Are you sure that’s what you want?”
“Well, you’d never kill him even if I wanted you to.”
“No,” he agreed. “Believing I killed him has haunted me for ten years.” I walked up to him and kissed him softly.
“It’s over now. Let’s all go home.” He looked down at me as I clasped his hand in mine.
“Home?” he asked, his teal blue eyes looking dark in the gas light.
“Yes. Our home.”
Chapter Seven: Mike:
When we got back to the condo building, Luca went to Jonathan’s for the night and Mila promised him she would see him tomorrow. I knew she was glad he had finally gotten away from their father, and that they would be able to work on their relationship. But first, she and I had some unfinished business. I pressed her up against the front door of my condo as soon as it closed behind us.
“I never want to see you in danger again,” I said, my forehead against hers.
“And you won’t. My father is a broken man and he’ll never come near us again.” Privately I wasn’t so sure, but I knew she was safe now and that’s all that mattered.
“Come with me,” I said and I swung her up into my arms. She held onto my neck tightly as I walked down the hallway to my bedroom. Our bedroom. I laid her down on the bed and covered her body with my own.
“I want to get married and have fifteen cubs with you. I mean, babies,” I said, flushing.
“Oh, you do, do you? I don’t hear a proposal in that sentence, Michael Greylock.” She tugged my head down and kissed me soundly.
“I’m in love with you, Mila. I want to spend the rest of my life with you because being without you makes me feel like half of me is missing. I’m a simple man, but my love for you isn’t simple. It’s deep and complex, and it will last beyond each of our lifetimes. Will you marry me?” She was crying by then, and I wiped her tears with a smile and another kiss.
“Yes, yes, yes!” We both laughed then and hugged each other close. But soon I couldn’t pretend that I wasn’t pressed up against her luscious body and I kissed her slowly and deeply, exploring her mouth with my tongue. She moaned and thrust her hips up against me. I stripped us both quickly and ran my hands all over her soft body. She was amazing and beautiful, and she was mine. I kissed my way down her body and licked into her center as I spread her open, and the sound of her pleasure made my dick impossibly hard. She tasted so sweet and juicy, and I sucked and licked at her until her clit was swollen. When I pushed my tongue flat against her clit she came apart, thrusting against my fingers and holding them prisoner with her muscles squeezing them tight.
I kissed my way back up her body as she shuddered and came down from the high. The scent of her sex was overwhelming and I needed to be inside of her right now. I thrust my cock inside her still clenching walls and she felt so good I started moving hard and fast within her.
“I love you.”
“I love you, too.” We both gasped and moved together, heading toward a pleasure I’d never felt before Mila, when suddenly my panther was yelling inside my head. I slowed down and eventually stopped, still hard as concrete inside of her.
“What’s wrong?”
“Bonding,” I said simply, kissing her neck.
“Yes, Michael, yes.”
“Now?�
��
“Yes,” she whispered and I looked down at her pristine, unblemished skin and drew my claws out on my right hand. I looked into her gorgeous caramel brown eyes as I pressed my claws into my own skin above my heart, drawing blood. I pulled them out and moved my hand over to the skin above her heart, hesitating to hurt her.
“This is right, Mike. This is fated,” she said as she stared up at me and my dick swelled inside of her. I placed my hand gently on the skin above her heart and pressed down as softly as I could and still break the skin. She inhaled deeply and made a sound of pleasure as she felt my blood mingling with her own. I pulled my claws out and leaned down to lick and kiss each puncture mark. We were bonded now, and the reality of her being mine for life was so intense that I started thrusting again, my dick rubbing against her walls as I slipped my tongue in her mouth. This was love as it was meant to be, pure and beautiful. Soon I was thrusting hard into her and we came together, my seed pouring into her, sealing our fates together.
I held her tight in my arms as our legs tangled together and her head rested on my chest. Neither one of us seemed eager to sleep, so we luxuriated in being together, making love many more times that night.
“I am yours and you are mine,” I whispered to her in the pre-dawn hours.
***
We awoke to bright sunlight and a loud buzzing sound ringing throughout the condo. I hit the button beside my bed.
“Hello, George.”
“Good morning, Mr. Greylock. The package you requested has arrived.”
“Great, thank you. I’ll come down and get it soon.” When I hung up I noticed Mila looking at me with a funny expression on her face.
“What?” I asked, pulling her body on top of mine.
“It occurs to me that this condo is very expensive. Not as expensive as Jonathan and Beth’s but…how do you afford it?”
“Well…Jonathan doesn’t pay me in cash. Over the years he’s paid me in company stock,” I hesitated to continue. Starting to blush I whispered, “I’m a billionaire.”
