by Susan Arden
In just one bite, he demonstrated his command over her.
He was perfect power. A raw force. In a matter of hours, he’d taught her more about herself than she’d learned in the last twenty-six years. Shawn wasn’t just an alpha leopard, he was experienced to the ninth degree and the owner of a stud-club. Of course, he’d tasted every flavor of sex. She must be a bland version of vanilla in his never-ending sex sundae and the swirling parfait-flavored partners he’d more than likely have tasted. Even if he’d been hurt, the ability to find partners for sex as the owner of the Den had to be mind-boggling. Surely, he’d seen it all.
But it wasn’t even that. There was a power he exuded. The council he spoke about and the changes he sought to help shifters were another facet to him that fascinated her. Who was this alpha leopard who sat next to her, acting like he’d nothing better to do than enjoy her company, and all the while, hundreds if not thousands of shifters depended upon him?
For the last year, he’d never appeared stressed out or overworked. He was the head of Matrix, usually appearing in tight jeans and open throated oxford shirts, a boss who ordered in take-out for staff lunches to kick back and toss around design concepts. His ability to bounce ideas had inspired her and others, and all the while he had seemingly been juggling more balls than she’d ever understand. And she had every intention of finding out just who this man was who extracted her will and had caught her in his clasp. Her breath fell all around her in gasps. For a few seconds, she peered up at him, positive that if she let him, he’d crush her heart.
“How will I ever keep up with you? Mark my words, you’ll grow bored and I, for one, will say ‘I told you so’.”
“Never.” A low unwinding growl seeped from his throat. “I look forward to being the alpha who will train you to harness your leopardess powers. Kitten, you’re almost too good to be true. You make me want to forget myself. Together we’ll create your experience, and you’ll wear my scent. Only mine. All over.”
“Shawn, I may be inexperienced as an alpha. But sex isn’t long-term. Nothing lasts forever. Don’t make promises you can’t keep.” He cupped her cheeks between his palms. Shawn lowered his face, brushing his mouth across hers. He groaned, and opened his lips over her mouth, devouring her will entirely. He pushed her hips over his lap, grinding himself upward into her crotch. She clawed his shirt, gouging the tips of her fingers into his shoulders. His body tensed before he bit into her lip — a sharp nip — and she cried out.
“If you play rough, you might get hurt,” he whispered, before brushing his lips over her mouth again.
Diana felt the car slow as it passed through security gates. From the backseat of the car, she could see up the winding, well-lit drive the car followed, yet the grounds beyond were dark. She squinted, utilizing her leopardess night vision and suddenly the open spaces shimmered. She gazed out the car window at the silhouettes of trees and turned to look out toward the other window across the backseat. More darkness expanded over what appeared to be boundless land. Her focus returned to Shawn as his fingers crept back between her legs.
“We’re home,” he murmured, and captured her earlobe between his teeth. Biting down, he pushed two fingers into her pussy. “Tell me, do you like when I do this to you?”
“More than you can imagine.” She whimpered and he curled his fingers, deeply thrusting past her entrance and finger-fucking her hard and fast.
“Right now, I want to be inside you. Would you let me?” he whispered. The car stopped moving, and the front door opened and slammed shut. “I promise I’ll not, given Fin is right outside, but you too must learn to exercise restraint. Take control of yourself. See how your body and mind respond. Go to the edge … but hold back. You can do it.”
Diana squirmed, unable to resist him or herself. He was doing more than testing her; he prompted her to wonder how this would play out. Or if she’d survive.
“Yes. God, I’d let you do whatever you want as long as you take me. Why do you keep delivering me to the edge and then pulling back?”
“You’re right about this being about sex. But sex is power, make no mistake. Don’t come. Hold on. Control yourself, kitten,” he whispered against her cheek.
Shawn kept plunging his finger into her slit, curling and vigorously rubbing. He removed his finger abruptly, leaving her breathless and hanging off his shoulders. His cock continued to move against her bottom, a suggestive pledge of his intent.
“From my vantage point, you’ve got all the power,” she gasped through her arousal. “We had better mount those steps, otherwise I might rescind my promise to keep from mounting you, right here.” He softly murmured against her neck, twining his fingers into her hair, tilting her chin upward. “I’ll make you come and when you do, you’ll never question why I push you repeatedly to the edge. I’ll fuck you so hard, you’ll be sitting on a feather pillow. I make promises because I keep them.”
She didn’t know if he was serious or not, but Shawn Barclay’s reputation in the business world had already been proven. He achieved his goals. Shawn was unconventional, not exactly someone who gave a rat’s ass for what anyone else thought, but she believed his unwritten mission statement was damn close.
“I want to learn control. This last year has been hell. But I need to know the reasons why. I can’t blindly accept even though I wish I could. Give me time.”
“Time,” he groaned. “Perhaps that’s what we both need.” He scooped her up and off his lap, and then he reached down to adjust his erection. He watched her, the corners of his lips lifted giving him an air of smug satisfaction. The chink in his near-perfect smugness was a fleeting look he gave her containing a glimmer of vulnerability.
To her surprise, Diana realized she was learning he wasn’t the emotionless wall he attempted to present to the world. She framed her hands on either side of his jawline, capturing his face furrowed by his knitted brows. She pressed her forehead against his, unable to fathom what made him take on such a pained expression.
He whispered, “I’ve never been this close to losing complete control myself. You push us both.”
She rubbed her nose alongside his and laughed. “You bring out this side in me. Don’t blame the leopardess when it’s your leopard nature that makes me hungry. If anyone is pushing, I’d say it’s you.”
He tunneled both sets of fingers through his hair. “I’m captivated with your mating scent. In a matter of hours, I crave all of you. I can only imagine the level of hunger I’ll experience after a few days or weeks in your company. This isn’t something we can lightly put aside like a hobby.”
“You have that exact effect on me.” She released him and tugged her skirt down her thighs, focusing on him, not her trembling fingers. By mistake she scooted forward on the backseat, and the friction of the padded leather against her sex made her arch and gasp. She quickly bent over, retrieving her purse that had fallen onto the backseat floor. Uneasily, Diana swung the strap over her shoulder, aware that Shawn’s gaze followed her every movement.
With an arched brow, he asked, “Shall we?”
“You tell me, sensei.”
He stared for half a second and then threw back his head, laughing, and damned if he didn’t slap his knee. The sound hit her square in the chest. The ring in his voice, the crinkle at the corner of his eyes kept her pinned, awaiting his words.
“Aha, my luscious grasshopper. I think you shall teach me a thing or two.” He opened the car door, pushing off the seat. “We’re finally here and can unwind,” he murmured over his shoulder.
Fin greeted him at the side of the car door, touching his cap. “Will you need the car again this evening?”
“No. We’re staying here for the next few days. I’ll relay that to Tristen as well.” Shawn held out his hand to Diana in the backseat. He bowed to retrieve her arm, all the while his eyes searching her gaze, accessing her depths with his pensive expression. His brows knitted as he sought her reaction to seeing his home for the first time. No wonder —
it was unlike anything she’d ever seen. The house sat far back from the road and they’d pulled up directly in front, giving her a car-window view of a home that defied definition. The house design combined styles of architecture into something unconventionally breathtaking. An original three-story structure with more glass than she’d seen in any home in Denver. What must the heating bill be like?
The porch lamps flickered, casting and recasting shadows along the cut granite block walls. Her fingers squeezed Shawn’s muscular arm. “Never have I admired such an uniquely designed home. The glass and angles. Your hand?” The tension eased from his arm and he exhaled.
“Yes. I’m interested in your reaction to the interior. I think we share the same tastes on several levels,” he murmured.
“Excuse me.” Fin’s voice came from behind them. They both turned toward the driver.
“Shawn, is there anything else for this evening?” Fin’s quiet Midwestern accent always made her smile, but tonight her grin froze on her face.
There beneath Fin’s jacket, dull gun metal riveted her attention. He had a holstered weapon at his shoulder. Fin was his usual self, dressed in all black that spoke to military experience. His demeanor had always struck her as trained but still on guard. Same with Shawn’s right hand man, Tristen. She reminded herself, this was the same Fin she’d seen around Matrix, and carrying a concealed weapon was far from unusual. But why would he need one? Was crime running that rampant in Denver?
As Shawn’s driver, she’d wondered about his duties. He was a staff member present at almost every Matrix function; yet it had been all work, design presentations, and no play. Him in the background. Watchful. She couldn’t recall him speaking during the meetings. His affable nature had always been pleasant enough whenever she’d greeted him.
Again, more questions about Shawn and what his life entailed.
“Thanks for the safe journey,” she murmured, her gaze sweeping past the man’s blank expression, but then her attention backtracked. He acknowledged her with an incline of his head, same as usual. Yet Fin’s expression wasn’t really blank and it was the first time she noticed. Was it the dark that made his eyes change color, going from a colorless grey to a flash of hues sparkling from his irises? The effect reminded her of a rainbow forming, but then instantly dissipating as though a trick of the light.
Wolf, she’d always assumed. She blinked, unable to place his shifter type or level. And then it was the heat in Shawn’s fingers crossing into her body that recaptured her attention. Her chest expanded as Shawn tightened his grip on her. He turned back to his driver. “Fin, we’ll be fine. Get the Jeep ready for tomorrow.”
“Very good, I’ve some maintenance work I can attend to on it.” The man bowed and shut the door.
• • •
Shawn tucked her fingers into the crook of his arm and pulled her with him toward a set of wide steps leading up to the front of his house. Massive Doric columns rose from the veranda, framing a set of equally stately arched doors. The outside of his home challenged her brain to find a home that compared in size and stature. His home pushed the boundaries of form, capturing elegance and even simplicity, but on such a grand scale that her gaze kept moving and marveling.
She wondered if she was ready for what he had in store. So far this evening, he’d tamed the insane inferno that had dwelt within her body and doused her heat with several rounds of mind-bending sex. So far, he’d marked her and revealed that, without her actual consent, he’d ensured that no other male would seek her out. Since the moment Shawn had told her she was an alpha leopardess, she continued to doubt him given her lack of control.
All he asked in return was her trust. Confusion still jabbed at her. She’d traded a cold metal collar for blazing heat that held her prisoner all the same. Thinking about where this was leading only heightened her unease. Shawn had nothing to lose; after all, she was replaceable both at work and in his bed. Her heart began whispering that he might not be.
He’d brought out a side of her that literally roared. She had shifted into a snarling leopardess — almost out of her mind — and then consented to his whispered command to calm and shift back into human form. She’d never known such powershifting. He had proven his mastery over her tonight. Alpha leopardess. Never before had she questioned anything he’d told her.
The nagging echo contradicted her desire to trust him. What on earth would a man like Shawn be doing with a female who wasn’t an alpha? It didn’t make sense and the details were too risky to contemplate when, at every turn, his hands, his mouth, and his cock kept tempting her to put aside worry. On the ride down the other side of ecstasy, she contemplated just what’s she’d agreed to in his arms.
Warring was ridiculous, other than a form of self-torture, when here she was in Shawn’s company and in a setting unlike any place she had ever visited or imagined. Climbing the steps, she inhaled and gave into the yearning to let go and let Shawn take care of her needs. Right then he took her hands, pulling her closer to him. She gazed up into his golden eyes that grew darker, boring into her. “Diana, before the end of the week, the only promise I intend on keeping is mounting you and claiming you fully. Unless, of course, you tell me no.”
The words he said liquefied her bones, for she was certain he told the truth. She swallowed and they commenced walking, moving toward the entrance.
“Well, we’ll just see about that. Won’t we?” Cocky is what she strove for, blatantly ignoring her heart pounding harder and harder with each step closer to the door.
He reached across to her, hoisting her up within his arms. “Really, I can do that. With pleasure.”
Chapter 7
The snick of the doorknob connecting the lock in the jamb rebounded off the foyer walls, floor and ceiling. Shawn set her down beyond the front door.
Gripping her face within his hands, he murmured, “Kiss me.”
Between the hammering in her ears and his feral glimmering eyes, Diana trembled, standing on tiptoe and pressing her mouth against his, opening to him.
He pushed her against the wall, grinding himself into her body, moaning, “Mine.” His kiss consumed her fear, casting it aside and leaving in its place another vast expanse of desire, layered and demanding. And just as fast, he reeled in his passion, leaving her shaken.
“Another lesson?” she asked, seeking to steady herself by leaning her shoulder into the wall.
“Yes and no. I want you, but first we should eat. Can you make the rest of the journey at your own speed or should I hoist you over my shoulder?”
“I’m not that undone by the events tonight. No matter how hard you’ve tried. And yes, you are amazing, don’t get me wrong, Mr. Barclay.”
“You’re welcome, kitten. Make yourself at home. Mrs. Wells, my housekeeper, is asleep, but anything you desire or need she’ll make arrangements to provide when you meet tomorrow.”
She allowed a tight smile to form on her lips. More training. She’d asked, and he was delivering. No way would she give him the opportunity to see her unravel further, otherwise he might think her a mouse instead of a leopardess. Earlier he’d told her how, while in Tibet, he’d learned how to give in to pain and suffering, absorb these qualities into his body by relaxing. He’d said that to fight pain accomplished the exact opposite of relief.
Diana softened her gaze, letting her fingers trace the rich textures of his home. Wedgewood blue saturated the foyer walls, bordered by gilded molding and painted wainscoting. “I bet you’re responsible for the design of your home. Both inside and out.”
“I had plenty of help. But the overall scheme is mine. Just remember, all roads lead back to the main drawing room.”
“I won’t even ask,” she murmured, imagining a multitude of nooks and crannies just from what she saw in the front hall. He led her forward into a room and immediately she took in the many doorways from which one could exit the room. “On second thought, do you get lost much?”
Coming forward into the room, she sucked
in her breath as the walls opened into a receiving area with soaring ceilings. Her eyes didn’t remain still; her gaze jumped from architectural detail to detail. Each item within his home had required exceptional taste in the ability to envision the overall effect. A chess game in architecture and interior design. She wondered what this room would be like during the day. She envisioned the space with the sun spilling inside from tall windows, and the various glass insets within the walls. She held onto his arm, gasping. “The cupola … where did you manage to acquire the fused stained glass?”
“Hand-made in Arizona.”
“Amazing,” she whispered. Just as his club had gleaming floors, the alabaster flooring of his home was played out in a varied pattern where the floor was set in ever expanding and seamless alabaster. The furniture was low, modern, and off-white. Yet nothing was strictly angular, but more organic in curve and shape. The room held several warm hues of white, never rising to beige or grey, yet the undertones were more than inviting.
She moved alongside Shawn as lighting preceded them into each area. “Interesting. The way the lighting comes on automatically.”
“Programmed sensors; absolutely love them. I never turn on — or off — a light switch. Energy efficient to some degree, except neither you nor I require much illumination, do we?”
“So far, no.” She stopped walking. Before her was a large oil painting on the wall. The portrait had to be at least four or five feet tall, depicting Shawn and a young woman, eerily positioned with eyes so golden and bright they seemed to stare down at her and follow her movements. She walked forward for a closer view. “Shawn, this painting is so lifelike of you.”
Diana returned her gaze, up at the woman with raven-colored hair. Who was she? Her coloring was darker than Shawn’s, but there was no mistaking the leopardess features steely under the woman’s beauty. The artist had captured the essence of their shifting nature. A cold tingling passed over Diana’s skin; more like a slow chill that lingered in the crevices of her body.
