Shifter's Claim (The Shadow Shifters)

by A. C. Arthur

  Priya cleared her throat. “I’m not silent,” she insisted. “Just trying to gather my thoughts before I speak.”

  “Is that new for you?” he asked. “That’s why it’s taking you so long.”

  She elbowed him. “You’re not funny.”

  No, it wasn’t funny. Bas had just broken the biggest law of the Ètica. He’d just betrayed his entire tribe. But instead of him feeling like a colossal ass, or going into soldier mode and coming up with a plan to neutralize this situation, he was getting a hard-on from the simple brush of her skin against his.

  “I’m not trying to be. Look, this is a new situation for both of us. Why don’t we just get on with the preliminaries,” he said, shifting a little so he could face her, but not give away his very obvious and slightly painful arousal.

  “And what would the preliminaries be in this particular situation?” she asked incredulously, pushing wet strands of hair from her forehead.

  “Questions and answers,” was Bas’s quick reply. The solution, or rather a temporary one, had just come to him, his new plan of sorts.

  She arched an eyebrow, the left side of her mouth tilting upward in a half smile. “Now you’re speaking my language. I’ll go first,” she said, already geared up for her first question.

  He put a finger to her lips to stop her and wanted to lean over and lick every droplet of water off her instead of this ridiculous talking idea he’d come up with. Quickly pulling his hand away, he began, “You ask a question. I answer. Then I ask a question and you answer. Deal?”

  Priya drew her lips into a tight line, then sighed. “Deal.”

  Bas nodded. “Go.”

  “What are you?”

  Damn, he knew that was coming.

  “I am a Topètenia.” Saying the words filled him with a mixture of pride and regret. In all his life he’d never once thought of the moment when he would have to explain what and who he was. “We are a tribe of jaguar shifters originating from the Gungi Rainforest in the Amazon. And we live among humans.” He finished with a look in her direction to survey the damage of his admission.

  She looked right back at him, as if she’d already known what his explanation was going to be, but still needed a second to process it. Instead of speaking, which he clearly expected her to do, Priya reached out and touched a hand to his chin. She traced a line along his jaw to the left, up to his cheekbone, over his nose, up to his eyebrows.

  “I knew there was something about your eyes,” she whispered. “The moment I first saw you sitting in that ballroom, I knew you were different. Even from Roman and the others, you were different.”

  Now was probably the best time to tell her about Rome and the others, about the democracy they were building here, that they weren’t a danger to humans. Yet, he remained silent. Bas kept his lips tightly drawn as he enjoyed the warmth of her touch, the soft tone of her voice. She wasn’t judging him, wasn’t even condemning him or what he’d told her he was. A very small part of Bas had always wondered if that would be the human reaction to their race, if fear of the unknown would ultimately produce ignorance and intolerance. The woman sitting across from him gave no indication of that being true. But Bas was no fool, in the end—and once he moved past the erection she inspired and the lust that boiled in the center of his gut like a coveted recipe for love—she was a human. And sadly, humans had proven time and time again that whatever they feared, they destroyed.

  “Who are you?” he asked on impulse, reaching his hand out to mimic her actions.

  Her bone structure was infinitely softer, a sleek jawline, high cheekbones, pert nose, and delectable lips. He wanted to kiss her right now, to climb on top of her and slip his thick length inside of her. His body strained with that thought, but Bas refrained.

  She tilted her head in response, rubbing her cheek along the palm of his hand. In that second all Bas could see was her, all he could feel was desire and need punching forcefully against him and everything he believed.

  “I’m just a woman,” was her whispered reply. “Just a woman who…” Her words trailed off.

  Bas moved closer, cupping her face now with both hands. “You’re just a beautiful woman, with the softest mouth and the sweetest tongue. You’re what I’ve dreamed of,” he admitted, lowering his face so that his nose brushed the tip of hers. “So help me, you’re what I’m most afraid of.” He said the last so softly he barely heard the words himself.

  Then there were no more words, no more thinking, no more wondering. His lips touched hers, a quick brush and instant punch of lust so potent that if they were standing, they might have both fallen. In the next instant Bas’s hands were at her waist as he lifted her onto his lap where she willingly straddled him. Her clothes were wet, sticking to her body in an annoying fashion that solicited a low growl from his cat. With his mouth working frantically over hers, his hands went to work ridding her of the wet articles. He ripped at the flimsy cotton of her shirt, broke the snap on her bra, and yanked at the shorts that barely skimmed her thighs until they were in two separate pieces falling wherever he tossed them on the ground.

  When she was blissfully naked, Bas ran his hands along her spine, down to her buttocks where he cupped the soft cheeks.

  “This wasn’t part of the plan,” she whispered over his mouth.

  Bas nipped her bottom lip, holding it gently between his teeth, then releasing the plump fold to suckle it quickly into his mouth. “I know,” he admitted, his hands slipping between the crease of her backside. One finger pausing at the tight ring of her sphincter, while the other hand moved farther until her moistened center all but sucked his digits into the warm depths. “But I can’t stop,” were the strained words falling from his lips as he closed his eyes to the pleasure of feeling her.

  Priya bucked at his touch, reaching between their bodies to wrap her hot little hands around his length. With one hand planted firmly at his base she stroked upward with her other hand, letting her thumb rub along the sensitive tip. “Neither can I,” she replied, the tremble in her voice and touch of her hands prompting Bas to lift his hips in response.

  There were other things going on, other concerns, other issues that needed addressing, but none of it mattered to Bas at this moment. Nothing but her, the sound of her voice, the feel of her heat against his skin, the touch of her hands, her tongue as she leaned forward to lick a scathing line from his earlobe down his neck. Everything was about this moment and this moment was about them, this man and this woman—and the cat that lingered, hungry and ready to possess.

  Bas pressed two fingers into her scorching center with a deep thrust, swirling them around so that her moistness dripped down onto his hand. Farther back, the pad of his middle finger pressed gently past the tight rim, stretching her slowly. She worked his dick like her hands were her mouth—and yeah, Bas was thinking that her mouth would be so much better. At the same time she rocked back and forth, working each of his fingers deeper inside. Her breasts bounced, nipples rubbing teasingly past his chin until he turned his face and with his mouth open wide, sucked one right inside. His tongue rolled over the taut bud, cheeks hollowing as he tried to pull the entire mound inside like dessert after a fine meal. She arched back and Bas groaned hungrily.

  Reluctantly, he pulled his mouth away from her when the sweet torture threatened to kill him. With heaving breaths he shifted, slipping his hands from her and waiting until her fingers uncoiled themselves from around his dick. Said body part throbbed its disapproval but Bas was sure he had something infinitely better in mind. Coming to a stand he lifted Priya up into his arms, walking slowly—because he wasn’t going to be able to totally keep from touching and tasting her—and kissing her as he moved them toward the patio door.

  It seemed like a long walk, but not really, as their tongues dueled during the process. Her arms wrapped tightly around his neck, breasts pressing into his chest. Bas wanted her in the bed, he wanted to lay her down, spread her wide, and take her slow. But that wasn’t going to happen.
It couldn’t happen, not this time, because he didn’t have that type of patience.

  He fell onto the couch, repositioning Priya on top of him, spreading her legs wide and aiming his thick length upward until the tip pressed into her dripping center. She grasped his shoulders, gripping him so tightly her blunt nails cut into his skin. In the next instant she slammed her hips down so hard and so fast Bas could do nothing more than let his head loll back as a growl rippled through his chest to echo into the dark room. She pulled back and sank down in rapid succession that heated every inch of Bas’s body. When he finally licked his lips and swallowed, his mind wrapping around the rise in body temperature and sure-as-hell ride to orgasm, he gripped her hips and joined in the fun.

  She was so slick and so tight at the same time, her scent mixing with his own to create something foreign and yet exotic. He guided the strokes now, controlled the depth, the retraction, the connection and she screamed with excitement. Her back was arched, her teeth sinking into her lower lip, breasts moving with their exertion. Leaning forward he licked her there, right down the center of her chest where a light sheen of sweat had appeared. The scent exploded into the air, stinging his nostrils, running in slow rivulets down his spine.

  “It’s too much! Too much!” she screamed, her head shaking back and forth wildly.

  Bas completely agreed. The feelings soaring through him, the scent, her voice, the feel of his flesh running right alongside hers like a perfectly oiled machine was just too damned much. More than he’d ever experienced with anyone else, ever.

  “I’ve got you, babe,” he replied with a guttural groan, his hands moving from her hips to grip the cheeks of her buttocks tightly.

  He spread her wider, loved the feel of unobstructed entrance into and out of her. Slipping his fingers through her crevice he sighed heavily at the instant warmth of her desire that coated them. He touched her there again, the tight entrance he’d explored before. His molars ached, his dick hardening to the point of making his vision blurry.

  “Dammit!” he cursed for wanting her there so badly. Needing to shift their position so he could ride her with all the ferocity he was feeling, he attempted to adjust but failed dismally as Priya’s release took charge.

  Her body locked over his, her head dropping so that she was staring down at him.

  “Sebastian!” she said through gritted teeth. “Sebastian!”

  He kissed her then, taking her mouth roughly, loving the helpless whimpers that matched the constriction of her sugar-coated walls around his dick. When she sagged against him Bas thought again to readjust their position but his body overruled his mind and instead he speared into her deeper and deeper, holding her still by her hips, moving with frequent, powerful thrusts that rendered him speechless until his release ripped free and with it a part of that wall he’d built securely around his heart.

  Chapter 20

  “How many of you are there?” was Priya’s first question as they lay in Bas’s bed, neither of them sleeping.

  He hesitated and Priya held her breath. She prayed he wasn’t going to go all tight-lipped on her now. If so, there was going to be trouble. Sure, she’d not too long ago had the most mind-numbing orgasm she’d ever experienced and he was the sole person responsible for said spectacular orgasm. But the fact still remained that he was not human. The repercussions of her having sex with him were momentarily taking a backseat to finding out everything she could about his … species, for lack of a better word.

  “There are more tribes,” he said, his voice deep, but low in the dark of the room. “All across the world, but most specifically in the rainforests and we’ve been here for hundreds of years. We’re not a threat to humans.”

  Well, that was good to know, sort of. Priya moved slightly, still lying on her back but pulling the sheets up higher, creasing them beneath her arms. She looked up at the ceiling only to see more darkness. The automatic blinds on the windows in the bedroom sealed the room completely from any light. Not that there was light just yet as she was thinking it was somewhere in the vicinity of three a.m.

  “But you can certainly be a danger to us, right? I mean you are huge and menacing and … and…” She paused because what she was about to say next had absolutely nothing to do with the unknown species versus the humans. Clearing her throat, she tried again. “I mean, it’s obvious that you’re more powerful than humans even though you look just like us.”

  Her words sounded as if she should be getting the hell out of here instead of lying in this bed naked beside him. But she hadn’t run. Not once she realized she was staring into familiar, yet unfamiliar eyes and that the big beautiful cat was the man she was beginning to believe she couldn’t stay away from.

  “We could be a danger,” he replied tightly. “But we’re not. At least it’s not our plan to be, hence the secrecy. It’s a lot easier to remain neutral in a world that’s not afraid of you or misunderstands you, when nobody knows exactly who or what you really are.”

  Priya hated that there was logic to his words. Hated it so much she ignored it.

  “But if someone were to tell your story, to explain why it is you’re here and what your plans are…”

  “We’re not aliens, Priya!” he roared, sitting up straight in the bed.

  She gasped but sucked it in, moving until she could sit up next to him.

  “That’s not what I meant,” she admitted quietly.

  “But that’s how it sounds. And if you print that story people are instantly going to go into prepare-for-the-alien-invasion mode. They’re going to stop going to work and go out and buy guns instead. They’re going to take a defensive posture against everyone because they won’t be able to tell who is what. Some of them, the boldest ones, are going to attempt to hunt us down, to save the earth from our kind. And that’s when things are going to get really bad.” Bas shook his head at the vehemence in his words. He hadn’t meant to talk to her that way, hadn’t meant to make things sound so dour, but he had and actually, they were.

  “No, Bas,” she replied quietly. “I want to save my brother’s life.”

  Bas paused then, feeling like a total ass at having momentarily forgotten how it was she came to be here with him.

  “Malik is your brother?”

  She nodded. “He’s my drug-addicted brother who steals from my mother to get high and has never held a job in his life.” She stopped, took a deep breath, and continued, “He’s my older brother, the one that fixed the chain on an old bike that someone had thrown away so I could have one of my own. When I was in college and was stupid enough to go to a frat party, get drunk, and leave with one of the pledges, Malik was right there in the parking lot when the jerk-off tried to fuck me right there against my old beat-up car.

  “Malik’s not the best guy in the world. He’s not even a nice guy on his forced sober days. But he’s my brother and he’s all my mother has left and if she loses him she just might die of grief. And if I lose them both…” Her words halted as she blinked faster and faster, fingers clenching together before she turned away.

  Bas waited a second, gave her that short span of time to inhale shakily and exhale before he touched her shoulders, turning her back to face him.

  “I won’t let you lose your brother, Priya. I will find them and I will make sure your brother is safe, without you having to write this story,” he promised.

  “Will you kill them too?” She cleared her throat. “You killed him or it without blinking. How many others have you killed?”

  Her question was valid, her words true yet they still managed to make Bas feel like a monster. Standing from the bed, he reached up a hand to touch the tiny button beside one of the wireless black filigree sconces above the bed. Then he was standing on the other side of the bed where she lay. He didn’t touch her like he wanted to, but sat beside her instead.

  “I killed an intruder. He and another broke into the resort and posed a danger to my staff and our guests. I did what was necessary.” He purposely left out
the part about doing what was natural.

  She visibly gulped and then nodded. “You’ve done that before?”

  He didn’t even blink. “Yes. I’m a former United States Marine and a jaguar Shadow Shifter.”

  “And you’ll do it again? Those people sound serious. They showed me a picture of Malik and his head was bleeding. If I don’t do this story and you go after them, you’ll kill them, won’t you?”

  “I want you to tell me everything they’ve ever said to you, in addition to the e-mails. I will find them and I will…” He hesitated. “I will handle them. That’s all you need to know.”

  She looked up at him, her hair tousled, lips still swollen from his kisses and Bas knew they weren’t finished. He knew that whatever this was between them was not passing. He wasn’t going to send Priya on her way and never see her again. He couldn’t.

  Washington, D.C.

  Three sets of eyes stared at the e-mail that had been delivered to Nick’s personal inbox. Each of them read those simple sentences:

  They know WHAT you are.

  They know WHAT you do.

  And now, THEY can do it too.

  And it was signed, CL, Sedona, Arizona

  “What the fuck does that mean?” Nick spat, slapping a hand onto the glass top of his desk.

  “You tracing this?” Rome asked X, who was standing on the other side of Nick.

  When they’d been called into Nick’s office for the second time this week, X had automatically known to bring his laptop. It still amazed Rome how fast and smooth his big, bulky fingers moved over the keyboard. X had already run a cord from his laptop to Nick’s and had been steadily typing while they read the message for the third time.

  “Tracing the IP address now,” X replied.

  Rome folded one arm over his chest, using his other hand to rub along the freshly cut goatee at his chin. “Someone’s trying to tell us something,” he said, more to himself than to the others in the room.