Tempted by the Jaguar #4: Infiltration (Riverford Shifters)

by Cristina Rayne

  Sensing her discomfort, Hunter answered in her stead. “It may be way in the future, but yeah, sounds like something to look forward to.”

  They drove west out of the city about ten miles before turning down a dirt county road, the land dotted by mesquites on either side. Five minutes later, they stopped in front of a tall gate that blocked the entrance to another road, this one paved. Lev hopped out of the SUV to unlock and open the gate.

  “His estate really is in the middle of nowhere,” Kylie remarked as they began driving down the paved road and Lev’s estate was still nowhere in sight.

  “It’s too remote for my tastes,” Maxim said. “I like a little noise.”

  “Me, too,” Sasha piped in.

  “That’s because you two are little hellions,” Lev sniffed. “Cooped up in a building surrounded by hundreds of people night after night—mingling.” He visibly shuddered. “Makes my skin crawl just thinking about it. I’m all about the fresh air and the sounds of nature.”

  When they crested a small incline, a large, three-story brick finally came into view in the distance.

  “Wow, I wasn’t expecting it to be so big,” Kylie blurted in a little awe. It was like seeing a resort in the middle of the Texas plains. She had thought they had been exaggerating when they said they were going to an “estate.”

  “Lev’s younger brother and his mate also live there,” Sasha said. “Taking into account his two sons and his niece, lots of space is necessary when it comes to tigers and their surly tempers.”

  At the estate, Kylie was briefly introduced to Lev’s mate, Polina, their teenaged sons, and extended family before her group was shuffled into a large den with several couches that reminded her a bit of the community room down in the wolves’ secret den. They then proceeded to spend the entire afternoon huddled around the half-finished map of the grounds and structures of the lions’ ranch she had seen earlier, discussing possible strategies of attack, occasionally adding to the map as various people reported new intel to both Maxim and Lev as the day wore on.

  After lunch, other shifters from Riverford began trickling in, the first to arrive were, unsurprisingly, the bobcats looking altogether too gleeful for such a dire situation, particularly the set of identical twin young men that Hunter spent a long while talking to. Apparently her lover had been friends with them since elementary school.

  The last to arrive was Jack and his father. The injured wolf looked alarmingly pale and sickly. Although Kylie could understand only too well why he would refuse to be left behind, traveling in his condition had set his recovery back probably days. The way he looked now, as if he was a breath away from collapsing, she doubted he would be able to join them at the ranch at all, no matter how much he wanted to be there to see his mate rescued. Luckily Polina thought the same, and took it upon herself to fuss over him.

  Through all this controlled chaos, and the dinner that followed, Kylie sat quietly beside Hunter, absorbing all the information and adding a suggestion a couple of times, but for the most part, she felt way out of her league in a discussion that resembled a military war council. As only Maxim and Hunter knew she was a Polyshifter, the very dangerous part she would play—that of an Assassin bringing urgent news, and probable punishment, about a possible breach in security with the geneticist as the suspect—was never mentioned, just that Maxim, Hunter, and a couple of wolves would handle that part of the operation.

  Kylie felt sick when a photo of Molly was once again passed around, reminding everyone of the importance of rescuing the sole human among the captives and the precautions that absolutely needed to be taken. However, that was nothing close to the way her heart felt as though it had been shredded when Maxim began passing out copies of the photo she had given him of her mother that had been taken a week before her parents had left her with Paul and Laura.

  As expected, almost everyone looked over at her with expressions of confusion. “My mother’s been missing for over a decade,” Kylie said quietly. “Her name is Grace Hall. Jack Bray thinks she may be one of the cougars being held captive.”

  Hunter slipped an arm around her waist and gave her a comforting hug. His familiar smell and the warmth of his body were enough to keep Kylie from losing it in front of everyone. After a couple of deep breaths, her pulse slowed back to a more normal rhythm.

  “My cousin, Lev, has prepared a place for all of you to sleep in one of his hunting lodges,” Maxim said into the following silence. “Jack, you and your father will obviously be staying here in the main house. We’ll be heading out to Amarillo at the crack of dawn in order to get into position, so I suggest you get as much rest and sleep as possible.”

  “Follow me,” Lev called out.

  “I’ll show the rest of you to your rooms,” Polina said, waving over her sons to help Jack.

  The kids had already taken their luggage up to the guestrooms on the second floor. The sky had just darkened, but even though it wasn’t quite eight yet, Kylie suggested that she and Hunter go to bed, to which he readily agreed.

  Kylie began rummaging in her bag that the kids had left on the bed for her nightgown and toiletries. She pointed towards the opened door of the en suite bathroom. “I’m just going to go wash up for bed,” she said.

  Hunter sat down on the bed and pulled out one of the throwaway cell phones Lev had given him. “I’ll go in after you’re done. I just need to make a call to the manager I left in charge of a couple of my complexes, first.”

  She couldn’t resist bending down to give him a tender kiss. “I won’t be long,” she promised.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  When Kylie entered the bedroom again, Hunter was standing at the sole window in the room wearing only his boxers, his eyes glazed and turned inward. The room was dark, illuminated only by the lights from the estate far below. The sky itself was an inky black with only a spattering of stars visible. Tonight was a new moon. Should tomorrow’s circumstances force them to wait to make their move until nightfall, the added darkness could prove to be a lucky boon.

  Kylie quietly walked over to him and slipped between him and the window, wrapping her arms around his bare torso. His entire body was so tense that it was almost like hugging a warm statue. This wouldn’t do. At this rate, he would lie awake all night worrying about all the things that could go wrong tomorrow, fearing because of the things Jack had told him, that his brother was already dead and they would merely be recovering his body. He needed a distraction, and if she was being completely honest with herself, she needed a distraction just as badly.

  She placed a deliberate, lingering kiss onto his neck, then another as he drew in a sharp, startled breath. Her fingertips teased up and down his spine as she continued to lightly kiss along his neck and shoulder before dipping both hands down to caress suggestively over the firm muscles of his ass.

  If anything, his body became even more rigid, but he made no move to either embrace or push her away. She could almost sense his turmoil in the silence that remained over them, broken only by the sound of their accelerating heartbeats and breathing. The smell of his sudden arousal was potent, making the muscles throughout her entire body tighten in anticipation and her groin ache and throb.

  He wanted her, but he wasn’t sure he should allow himself the indulgence. She would have to push even harder.

  “Help me forget how scared I am for everybody,” Kylie murmured against his skin, pressing herself even harder against his body and tightening her arms around his waist. “Just for tonight.”

  She lifted up her head and raised herself on tiptoes to lightly touch her lips to his own. Then suddenly her back was being slammed against a wall, and Hunter’s lips crashed against hers, kissing her as though he had been drowning and needed her mouth to breathe. He pushed his thighs between her legs until they opened to accommodate him. His hands moved roughly down her sides and slipped around her waist to grab her ass tightly, urging her to wrap a bare leg around his thigh as he ground his swollen member against the center of h
er pleasure almost desperately.

  Kylie pushed back and rubbed herself against him just as aggressively, his mouth swallowing her moans as bursts of pleasure raced up her spine. Then suddenly his mouth was gone and her nightgown was being lifted over her head in one fell swoop before she could even open her eyes, the cool air within the room making her shiver as it hit her newly-bared skin.

  Standing only in her panties, Kylie reached for Hunter’s boxers and yanked them down his hips until they pooled at his ankles, her eyes fixed on his cock as it sprang free. The head was already darkened, wet and leaking, and she felt a surge of arousal in her groin that nearly had her knees buckling at the thought of it pounding into her until her mind and senses were filled with nothing but Hunter.

  Before she could reach down to grasp his cock, Hunter crushed her nearly-nude body against him, and his mouth dipped down to suck hungrily on her neck. Kylie gasped and trembled as Hunter worked one of her erogenous zones with lips, teeth, and tongue while her hardened nipples rubbed against his silky, slightly damp skin.

  Hunter walked them back towards the bed and tumbled them onto the comforter. He watched with lust-filled eyes and something she couldn’t quite identify as he pulled off her panties and she finally lay with her eyes hooded in lust and her cheeks flushed completely exposed like a sensual meal set out for his enjoyment.

  He reached out a hand and began to caress down her body almost reverently rather than to inflame. “You’re so beautiful,” he said quietly, his eyes raising to fix intently on her face. “That you came into my life now of all times—I can’t bear the thought of something happening to you. I want to lock you up in this room until all the danger has passed, but…”

  Kylie swallowed thickly. “But I’m a Polyshifter, and the danger will never pass.”

  He nodded, his eyes infinitely sad, and he moved to cover her body with his own. “I know.”

  He kissed her gently, lovingly, with none of his earlier urgency present, and then for a long moment, he merely lay atop her, pressing his nose into her neck and inhaling her scent deeply. Kylie wrapped one arm around his back and up to grasp one shoulder tightly. The other hand, she slid into his hair, her fingertips cradling his head. Their legs seemed to intertwine naturally, and for a long moment, she just held him, their earlier, desperate ardor cooled but not completely gone. Just touching Hunter’s skin was enough to send her own skin tingling, and his scent was still saturated with arousal, as evidenced by the hard cock trapped between their bodies.

  She had thought to make his mind crazy with lust, but it seemed what Hunter needed more than to forget their worries, was to simply feel their connection. If they fell asleep intertwined just like this, then she would have no complaints. There would be plenty of time for them to make love once their loved ones were safe, and they would finally be able to explore their newly formed relationship at their leisure. She refused to believe otherwise.

  Kylie listened to Hunter’s soft breathing and the soothing rhythm of his heartbeat while softly caressing her fingers through his hair and lightly massaging his scalp. She had found it really soothing the times he had done the same for her. His weight was a pleasurable heaviness across her body, a warmth that soon had her drowsy and her eyes drooping.

  Then suddenly Hunter shifted, and his hips thrust forward, rubbing his hardness deliberately against the length of her wet folds. Kylie gasped, her drowsiness instantly gone, and instinctually tightened her thighs against his hips. He did it a second time, harder and more prolonged, and a soft moan escaped her throat as that silky hardness rubbed against her clit this time.

  Hunter kissed her neck softly then lifted his head. Their eyes met, and Kylie could clearly see his love for her shining within them despite the darkness. It made her chest tighten painfully. None of the men she had dated had ever looked at her like that, like she was the only thing they could see or wanted to see.

  Kylie raised her head and captured his lips, trying to put everything she was feeling, the slight fear, the happiness, and yes, even the love, into that one kiss. No tongue, just a passionate melding and rubbing of lips. When they broke apart, Kylie’s cheeks felt warm, and her heart was racing to the point where she was beginning to feel slightly lightheaded.

  The smile that stretched Hunter’s lips was beautiful, happy and utterly belonging within that single moment. Then he lifted his body off hers slightly, holding himself aloft with one arm beside her head, and lowered his head to take one of her nipples into his mouth while he used his free hand to palm the other. Kylie immediately arched up against him, her skin hypersensitive from the emotions that last kiss had invoked.

  Hunter took his time. He slowly lathed attention to one breast with his teeth, mouth, and tongue while he rolled and pinched the nipple of the other with varying degrees of pressure between his fingers. His eyes were closed as he did this, as if savoring the taste of her skin, but at the same time, his slow, deliberate actions were worshipful. All their previous lovemaking had been passionate, full of affection, yes, but there had always been something primal and wild to the way they had practically devoured each other.

  Kylie had always thought it was because of their shifter nature, and maybe that was true, but the way he was caressing her body now was worlds different. It was deeper, perhaps even more passionate than getting totally lost in each other’s bodies until all they could feel was the mind-numbing pleasure as they had before. Because this time she was just as aware of him and his reactions as she was of her own.

  She tugged on his hair a bit and ran her fingernails lightly up and down his back until he shuddered. He released her breast from his mouth with a wet pop and surged up her body to take her lips again, licking almost lazily along the seam until she parted them and his tongue thrust forward to slide eagerly along her own.

  His fingers brushed teasingly over her clit a few times, and Kylie bucked her hips in encouragement. She was already wet and more than ready for him, the walls of her passage throbbing in anticipation of feeling his thick cock filling her so completely. She clutched at his buttocks, urging him forward as she arched her body into the caress.

  Then his cock was suddenly pressing into her warmth in one, strong thrust that had Hunter swallowing her moans. She wrapped her legs around his hips and pressed him deeper inside with the heels of her feet. His hips began a slow roll as he pulled out almost completely and thrust into her with long, powerful strokes that allowed her to feel every inch of that silky hardness caress along her sensitive tissues.

  As when he had been sucking on her breasts, Hunter seemed intent on savoring every clench of her passage and every cry wrenched from her throat when he angled his thrusts and rubbed against those most sensitive areas that drove her wild. There was nothing hurried or frenzied about his movements, no desperate need to reach the edge of the cliff, just a joy in the intimacy of it all. The pleasure was just a bonus.

  Soon Kylie was thrusting back more forcefully in time to his rhythm, feeling the pressure in her groin building more keenly than ever before. A few more thrusts, and that pressure shattered into pure ecstasy, making her accidentally bite Hunter’s bottom lip at the shock of it. She threw her head back with a moan as she rode out her climax, unable to keep her eyes open even though she ached to see his face as he found his own ecstasy.

  Hunter allowed the full weight of his body to rest completely onto her as he gave a series of final deep thrusts, and the first spurts of his scorching seed began to fill her passage. She clamped her inner muscles down tightly on his cock, tearing an appreciative moan from his lips as he continued to thrust shallowly and jerkily into her soft warmth until he had been milked completely and fell still.

  Kylie let her legs slip off his back and fall to either side of his hips. She playfully squeezed them against his slick flesh before raising her head for a kiss which he eagerly gave.

  They didn’t speak when they broke apart. Hunter withdrew from her and rolled them onto their sides. Kylie snuggled closer, p
ressing her face to his chest as he threw a leg over hers and his arms tightened around her waist.

  For a long while, she listened to the steady beat of his heart and her slightly accelerated one until Hunter’s breaths evened out into the rhythm of sleep that she had grown accustomed to in the last couple of days. Although their lovemaking had not been the wild and mind-numbing frenzy she had planned, she was nevertheless satisfied with the outcome in every way, especially when Hunter’s face looked so relaxed and peaceful.

  Tomorrow they would rescue their loved ones from those monsters, and a large part of their souls could finally begin to heal. It was only the comfort of that thought that allowed Kylie to finally relax her mind and worries enough to drift off as well.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  For the umpteenth time, Kylie picked at the very uncomfortable swat-like black vest she was wearing as Hunter, Maxim, and she drove in an Explorer they borrowed from Lev’s brother up the highway to Amarillo. The sun was barely peeking over the eastern horizon, but Kylie wasn’t in the least bit sleepy.

  Dressed from head-to-toe in black, every piece of her outfit had been duplicated from the clothes the lioness assassin had been wearing when she had attacked them at Karen’s house. Hunter had told her about it beforehand, and she had agreed that it was the best way to be seen when they drove up to the gates of the ranch, but now that she was actually wearing it, along with the blonde wig that had been her own idea, she felt as though she was cosplaying rather than acting as a true decoy.

  Her companions were dressed casually in jeans, sweatshirts, and hiking boots, though Kylie knew that both carried a concealed Glock holstered to their sides. Kylie prayed that neither man would have to use them. It was no small comfort that both were just as lethal in their shifted forms.

  She and Hunter sat in the back while Maxim drove, and Kylie was immensely grateful for the comforting hand Hunter had threaded in her own. It was the anchor she needed to keep her fear and nervousness at bay for the important part she was about to play. Hunter was staring down at his cell phone, reading a text that had just come in from one of Maxim’s wolves.