by Susan Arden
“Good to see you, Diana,” he said in a monotone voice. Tristen leaned forward, extending a thick arm for a handshake. His buzzed hair gleamed platinum, framing his skull.
Shawn shook his head at Tristen’s robotic address. “No need to be so dour.”
“Says you,” Tristen retorted, pulling open the front door. “It’s going to be a clear day. Near perfect.” He stepped onto the porch, putting on a pair of sunglasses. When Tristen descended the front steps into the direct sunlight, glare lifted from his colorless hair like a halo. “Tonight as well. Excellent conditions are expected. Fin’s changing the oil in your Jeep. We’ll be on our mark come nightfall.”
“It’s a short walk to the place where we’ll begin to train.” Shawn kept his arm around Diana’s shoulders. In human form, her thin bones were fragile beneath his hand.
This wasn’t the first time he’d participated in the ceremony for paired leopards. What he’d do with Diana was like a chase between leopards to be mated, but she was learning her nature, not coming back here to be his mate. His chest squeezed for a second on that thought. There was no arguing he wanted all of Diana, but he still felt unsure about taking the leap into forever since she refused to commit.
Christ, right now she seemed one foot out the door if he didn’t watch his step. “Your family much for the traditional mating chase?”
She blinked before she turned away. “Yes. They’re very conservative about all that stuff.”
“We used to prepare for days for a bonding chase with family and friends. When my parents were alive, this was a time for partying and a celebration that rivaled a wedding. At least a week was set aside and the culmination of the paired leopards’ run marked the beginning of a union.”
Nowadays, these traditions were less about the journey and more about the destination. Many couples were more interested in posting photographs about where they’d gone, as if this was a human honeymoon. Some couples agreed to forsake the tradition altogether, opting for a church wedding where the actual mating was done on the wedding night.
Shifters had learned to adapt and fit into society. Their kind didn’t roam neighborhoods in primal form. Except for ones like the hard-headed shifter next to him. He snorted. For Diana, a conservative shifter, that would be much the same as walking down the sidewalk naked.
There was no way to remain silent on this issue. “You’ve a real blind spot as to your own needs. There’s a shifter time and place to cut loose, and that’s the reason why Quinn and I opened the Den. Do you realize there are shifter kidnappings? Under-reported, of course, but still the practice goes on.”
“We’ve all heard of the female shifters who go missing.”
“That’s a slight understatement. You don’t believe they run around wild only to be captured or killed, or even worse, sold to deviant animal shows?”
“I think many things happen. Females may run away and be taken advantage of. I appreciate everything you’ve said. That’s why I’m here.”
He worried that if Diana couldn’t or wouldn’t go through with this training, she would run the risk of wildly shifting and ending up as another shifter gone missing, never to be seen again.
They walked in silence, their feet crunching the gravel path in back of the house, then headed across a smooth expanse of lawn into a line of evergreen trees. Once inside the shaded wooded area, the temperature of the air dropped remarkably. Diana’s skin cooled under his fingers. “Where are we going?” she whispered.
“Just up ahead. There’s a small building that we use for meetings.”
Tristen snorted without saying a word. Diana’s soft curves swayed and bumped against Shawn. She rubbed her cheek against his thumb at her shoulder. “Mmm,” she said softly.
He slowed his walk, uncertain if any of them was up for this task. The rivers would be running high, currents twisting and tumbling, speeding along, keeping boulders hidden until a body slammed and broke against them. She’d be lucky to get by with just getting her paws damp. His mind raced, conceptualizing every possible scenario, and what might be done to lessen the chance that she’d succumb to the elements. Fuck, this was a fabulous time to reconsider.
As though Tristen could read his mind, he turned. “She’ll be fine. If you can undo your death grip for a couple of hours, dad?” The wolf’s scowl was obvious, even behind a set of wraparound sunglasses.
Shawn retorted, “You’re one to talk, gramps.” Tristen had proven himself over and over. Today, the wolf shifter was about to undertake accessing Diana’s leopardess nature using sophisticated neuro-technology. He was the only key holder Shawn trusted to unlock Diana’s nature. Someone else might leach her primal leopardess power, stealing a portion, but never Tristen.
Up ahead through the tree trunks, the side of the red building came into view. Constructed to resemble a farm building, complete with tin roof, the building had every modern convenience including enough technology to rival a small government. Tristen camped out here along with Fin, across the land on the East Ridge. Shawn didn’t ask what they did and they never offered an explanation.
Tristen had established he was indispensable as his right-hand man and had become his friend over the years. Trained in neuropsychology, he’d stopped working in his field after coming back from Afghanistan. He had served a number of years with Fin as combat soldiers. Both Tristen and Shawn’s parents were long gone. Shawn’s respect had coalesced into a solid friendship with these two men and, together with Quinn, they formed a tight bond around Denver.
Tristen unlocked the door. He opened it and stood back, letting Diana enter first. As with the house, the building used motion sensors and automated climate control.
Shawn stopped in front of Tristen as the wolf shifter spoke in a low voice. “I assure you, Diana will have everything one might need to navigate over the terrain. Just give me a few hours. I’ve never let you down.” Tristen’s unblinking eyes held his gaze.
A low hum of white noise floated around them from several pieces of neurological instrumentation and machinery. Electronic equipment gave off an electrical smell. He watched Diana’s reaction, the fluttering of her cat-eyes changing.
“What shall we do here?” she asked.
“Tristen has been instructed to work out a program to unlock your inner nature, freeing you from the obvious walls you have built as defenses. These are roadblocks to the decision-making required in your primal form. It’s also why you can’t remember anything when you shift; it is actually a type of psychological veil that keeps you safe from what you fear. This safety net will tie you up when you need to act instead of react.”
“How will this impact my thinking when I’m not shifting? Or when I’m in a … cycle?” Her face glowed with color.
“You’ll have access to memories. Right now those memories are sealed off. They exist, but you’ve no way to retrieve them. Soon you will.”
She walked around the office, peering at the equipment and charts. “Is this another one of your businesses?”
“Not exactly a business. More like a service we’re trying out. This is part of what I spend time doing. There are huge numbers of shifters who live on the fringes of society because they don’t fit into a world of modern conveniences. You left your family and have been cut off. If you’d stayed, you’d have become an adult shifter and learned what resources were available. Instead, you’ve been out of the loop. My family has been responsible for governing the Western part of North America for generations. As you know, I’m responsible for a newly-formed board that assists shifters seeking mediation when conflicts occur. This is one step.”
“This is so far from justice, graphic design, restaurants, retail engineering, and a mating club. Is there anything you don’t do?”
“It’s all related. Design in another form, a resource in a necessary form.”
“And Tristen? I don’t understand his position here.”
Shawn inhaled. Tristen had moved up ahead into the room where’d she enter as o
ne type of leopard and come out a very different type, if the program took hold within her synapses.
“Before the war, this was his specialty. He got out of the medical field when things got complicated. Now he’s agreed to help as a personal favor. Tristen designed a type of neuro-deprogramming method to get behind the barriers a shifter erects. Once he is behind those barriers, he inserts hundreds of hours of brain training to make your thought patterns flexible. There’s nothing nefarious or evil. He limbers up your brain, to become just like when you were young. I’ll be here to monitor your progress as Tristen employs a series of exercises while you’re in a REM sleep.”
“Brain games. If he finds the memory of where I lost my keys, can he take notes and let me know?”
“This training doesn’t provide a movie of your thoughts. More like a map and insertion points. That’s all. I promise.”
“I hope you have an excellent memory for all the promises you’ve made.”
Shawn stopped outside the room, lifted her hand, and ran his lips over her palm. “I do. Each one is tattooed deep within me.”
Chapter 11
Diana woke back inside the bedroom. She’d been dreaming of running, jumping effortlessly, powerful muscles bunching as she leaped through space. Only this time, the freedom she’d experienced was exhilarating, without boundaries. She blinked, trying to recapture the totality of the dream in lieu of a patchwork quilt of images. Her mind drifted away from the dream as she moved into wakefulness.
She sat up, naked under the sheet, and glanced about. The long shadows within the room indicated it was late afternoon. It had been morning when they’d begun the mind training. She didn’t recall anything after lying down on a chaise lounge that made her think of a dentist’s office.
Tristen’s voice had lulled her into sleep using some sort of hypnosis while she distinctly recalled the feel of Shawn’s hands on her skin, the scent of him, and his soothing words comforting her.
Absent was the perception of sorrow that had infused her life by being alone as she had been these last months. A wave of guilt washed over her. Cole was dead. Shouldn’t she still feel a deep, abiding remorse? She rolled back onto the pillows. This shouldn’t be the end of her guilt trip. She shuddered under a wave of uncertainty, pressing her fingers to her temples. In the last week, her life had twisted and turned. Tonight, another major stepping stone lay before her. Only this wasn’t the type of step she could slip upon — not high in the mountains surrounding the bedroom in which she was safely seated.
The door opened and Shawn leaned against the doorframe, as he’d done only one night ago. As before, his appearance made her breath catch in her chest. The light spilled in from the windows and he wasn’t cloaked in shadows. The lines of his face were in plain sight. A five o’clock shadow gave him a rugged, dangerous appearance.
“Hello, stranger,” she said, scissoring her legs.
“I didn’t want to disturb you, but I had to find out if you were awake.” He peeled himself off the wall, sauntering toward her with more catlike grace than she’d ever witnessed from him. The air — once static — swirled about them both. She inhaled his scent, caressing her from head to toe, raw and lustful. A skittering snarl, one she’d never imagined possessing, tore from her lips.
Without any time to think, her claws sprang outward. Her skin reacted like a wool sweater put in hot water. He was coming for her. Her leopardess perception sensed a chase was imminent. “What do you want?” she asked in a low voice. The leopardess inside her sought the means to make her way from the room, yet longed also to stay, in order to submit. Primal and too powerful to resist. Then an entirely different urge overcame her like a volcanic eruption.
She wanted to feel him behind her. Mounting her and grinding into her body. Unsheathed and spraying his seed inside the walls of her womb. The moon would bathe the mountain in light tonight. This was the pinnacle of her heat cycle. What he’d tried to describe and couldn’t.
“Kitten, I’m going to have you. Just a taste to make certain you find your way back. I promise it will be quick.”
“No,” she retorted, without giving his offer any thought.
“You will give into me. Do you want me to get Tristen or Fin? They wouldn’t be pleased to assist with this part. But they would. You don’t seem the type to want an exhibition. Not the first time.”
“Are you saying you’d let them participate?”
“They’d never touch you. No man would dare without risking a challenge. But they will do what they’re told. Especially if it means saving you. I think Tristen is quite taken with you in a scientific-subject way.”
All the while she kept her eyes on him. Every one of his movements was loud and clear: he wanted to fuck her in a way she’d never experienced. Until meeting him, the things he’d suggested were beyond imagining. If they were going to mate for a lifetime, her leopardess knowing realized that she had to make him earn the right. Was that where this was now headed?
“I thought this was just supposed to be temporary?” She swallowed, uncertain what she desired.
It was right to give her alpha the chase they both deserved. One where her mate could prove himself. And one where she in turn gave him something to remember. This was her whole future. Not so simple as a chase, followed by simple sex.
There were the tales retold to children of how mates outgunned or outmaneuvered until the last second. An alpha would want a story worthy of repeating. This was a sexual coming-out party, with only two guests.
“I’m not tricking you, Diana. This isn’t a secret ceremony. I promise you, you’ll own your life by the end of tonight. And I will claim a small part of you. If you want to break our ties, you’ll still have that doorway. This isn’t a leopard bonding, sweetheart. I’m training you as you wanted.”
“I’m not going to give you what you want just because you ask nicely. Shawn, all female leopards know the rules.”
“We discussed this already. I give you my word. You must know what markings to keep track of as you find your way. Without the scent, you’ll get lost, or worse, tricked or trapped. Plenty of poachers would love to bag a big cat. I will have you to protect you, but I won’t screw my own chase. Baby, I want to let you run just so I can get hold of you. I promise, only a few strokes and that’s it. When your cells absorb my precum, you’ll be set. Let me have you, Diana. Now.” His voice thundered, making her flinch.
And then he was on her. His linen pants and no shirt were no barrier. His warm body against her stymied her bolting. “I can’t,” she panted bewildered.
“You will.” He became naked, rubbing his body over hers. His cock was harder than she remembered, if that was even possible. He pinned her body, his knees pressed her thighs open, and then he bit into her shoulder at the base of her neck. A feeling of being paralyzed overcame her and she couldn’t move. Teeth — or rather, fangs — sank into her skin and he released his grip on her arms.
A bottle appeared and he squeezed something into his hand. This was heaven and she could do no more than lie under him. Cold liquid bathed her ass opening. His fingers gently swiped her pussy. Had she been able to utter a word, she would have called out for him to do whatever he wanted.
Then his fingers were at her ass, pressing, swirling between her cheeks, creating the most delicious torture. He bit down harder as the pressure from his cock increased against her anus, and he worked himself into her with just the tip of his crown.
All too soon, she was opening to him, while his hips flexed and then he breached her opening. Pain — red-hot and scalding — assaulted her nerves and she reached to scratch him. His hands caught her wrists, hauling her arms above her head. The head of his cock nudged inside her anus without doing more than titillate her. Shawn gyrated, pushing little by little past her sphincter muscles, and then plunging his head inside her again. The pain made her buck, trying to get him off her. He came out of her for a second before he rocked back and this time pumped into her with greater force.
One thrust and he was inside her, not far but enough to make tears flood her eyes.
Closing her eyelids, she froze, overwhelmed. Taking in his length and size were tearing at her. Together they lay without moving. Then warm lips were at her throat instead of teeth. Shawn licked her skin, making her body tingle. His mouth reclaimed her, pouring murmurs into her mouth as he kissed her, releasing her wrists and wrapping her with his arms.
The burning stopped and all that remained was the need to have more of him. Pleasure so sharp, so intense, sliced through the haze and she rocked toward him this time. Oh, the feeling was more than artful; it was sinful and dark.
Ecstasy she could no longer hide, bliss, poured around her, whispering to her to ride his cock. In response, he nipped her lip and arched up, sliding backward. She felt his head withdrawing from her, a moment of power, and then he was back, moving slowly, sliding into her, allowing her the chance to accommodate his cock. He withdrew so quickly, she shuddered and cried out, not in pain, but in surprise.
“Can you take more of me?” His hands snaked down, cupping her ass cheeks.
“Yes. I think so.”
Just as soon as she’d agreed, he opened her wide to him. His cock rimmed her anus, firmly gliding and stretching her, pressure building with sinful heat, searing mixed with pleasure so hot she wanted to feel the length of him. Pushing her breasts against his chest, she threaded her fingers into his hair and pulled forcefully back.
Growling, he surged into her, his dick ramming, then stopping, and he withdrew, lowering himself over her. She pulled his hair again, wanting to anger him and make him slam back into her. No movement, only his shallow breaths followed by a curse.
“One more stroke, but that is all. If I give in and take you completely, then I’ve not kept my promise. Do you understand? Don’t beg me or plead — one more stroke and then we’ve got to run. I’ve spilled enough inside you that you can pick me out of a crowded Moroccan bazaar on market day.” All her thoughts tried to make sense of what he said. She struggled to understand this delicious sensation was not going to last, but downright stop. In one more stroke.
