Spotting His Leopard (Shifters, Inc.)

by Georgette St. Clair

  “My great-grandfather,” Maji said, nodding at him.

  “Maji, what’s happening?” Tyler asked. “Why can’t you take us into town?”

  “Farruki knows that you hired me,” Maji said, his voice lowered. “If you come to me, I am supposed to take you straight to the nearest police station and call out to them so you can be arrested. He promised me a very large reward. And he will kill me and my family if he finds out I’ve been helping you.”

  “Since when does the Thieves’ Guild work with the police?” Gwenneth asked, astonished.

  Maji gave a tired shrug. “The Thieves’ Guild, the police…it’s all the same thing these days.”

  “How long has this been going on?” Tyler asked.

  “For a few years now.”

  The old man on the cot started coughing and pressed a dirty rag against his mouth. The coughing fit lasted for almost a minute before it subsided and he lay there wheezing. Maji sighed heavily and looked away.

  “Why does the king allow it?” Tyler wondered, shaking his head. “It never used to be like this.”

  Maji glanced around nervously, as if even the walls of the hut had ears, and a voice to betray him.

  “The King has not been seen close up by anyone, for years,” he said. “Since the trouble started. It’s always the Witch Doctor who makes the public announcements these days. Him and the King’s Number Two Wife, Serena. We’re not even sure if the King is alive anymore, or if they’re just using some actor to pretend to be him. He used to greet the public personally every year on his birthday, giving blessings to hundreds of people, but he stopped doing that three years ago, and when he makes appearances now it’s just from his balcony.”

  Tyler and Gwenneth glanced at each other.

  “Are we putting you in danger just by being here?” Tyler asked Maji.

  “Not for the moment. Everyone in my neighborhood hates Farruki, so they will not betray me. You could stay for tea if you wish.” But he looked nervous as he said that.

  “Maji, we must go,” Gwenneth said. “Thank you for warning us. If I ever get off this island and can talk to someone in the Thieves’ Guild, I swear we’ll have Farruki’s head on a pike.”

  She and Tyler quickly hurried out, refusing Maji’s final attempts to return Tyler’s money.

  * * *

  It seemed as if there were police officers on every street corner, Gwenneth thought uneasily as they headed towards the park. They’d had to walk, since Maji couldn’t give them a ride.

  She and Tyler had told the priestesses they had business to attend to in the city. Belij had looked concerned but hadn’t said anything. They never got involved in politics.

  “May all your endeavors be fruitful!” Belij called out to them as they left the temple. She didn’t know that, while Tyler and Gwenneth had been having sex all night long for the past couple of nights, they’d also been using birth control. Thank heavens the priestesses didn’t search through their guests’ bags.

  Gwenneth and Tyler were walking separately, since the police were searching for them as a couple. He stayed a block or two ahead of her as they worked their way towards the park, which was finally in sight.

  Police walking past glanced at her then looked away. She’d taken care to disguise herself before leaving the jungle – she had used a special bronzer to dye her skin so tan that she could easily have passed for a native, popped in a pair of green contact lenses, and styled her straight hair so it was in ringlets. Tyler had borrowed a business suit and a homburg hat from one of the guests at the fertility compound, and she prayed that would be disguise enough for him.

  “Miss, miss, a coin for me? My mother is sick and cannot work!” a familiar voice sang out to her. She glanced down. It was Hiro.

  She knelt down, fished in her purse, and pulled out a few coins for him.

  “Hiro, are you all right? What are you doing here?” she asked in a low voice, glancing around warily. Nobody was looking at them, she saw with relief.

  “Tana heard you say you were meeting your friend here today. We have been watching the park in case you need us,” he said.

  Her heart made a painful thump in her chest.

  “Is everything all right? Did the soldiers hurt any of you?”

  “Oh, no, miss, we are much too fast for them.” He flashed her a devilish grin.

  “Tell me where the Fallback is,” she said. “I can’t remember.”

  He described an abandoned bridge on the outskirts of the shanty town. She pulled out some more bills from her purse and gave them to him. A soldier was watching her, she saw; he was probably wondering why she was spending so much time talking to the beggar child.

  “You need to go. It’s dangerous here for you,” she said to him. “Tell Tana thank you, but I want you to stay away from me for now, because the soldiers are watching too closely. If I can make it to the Fallback, I will.” Before he could answer, she stood up and hurried away, praying she hadn’t blown her cover.

  She looked up ahead; Tyler had vanished, probably gone into the park already.

  As always, she’d arrived early. Normally she showed up an hour early to scope out the area when she was meeting with anyone, and Nadette knew that about her, so today, to be extra cautious, she and Tyler had showed up two hours early.

  “Hey, sweetheart.” Tyler walked up to her, grinning and holding out a cup of coffee. “Don’t show any reaction, here comes a squadron.” His voice and expression were cheerful, but she felt the tension in his body as he put his arm around her waist and quickly walked her to a side path at the edge of the grove.

  “They’re watching us,” she observed as they settled onto a bench.

  “I know one way to blend in,” Tyler said. He glanced at another bench farther down the path from them, where a lion shifter couple were having very enthusiastic public sex. The woman was on her hands and knees, and the male lion was thrusting into her from behind. Every time he pulled back, Gwenneth caught a glimpse of his enormous phallus.

  Once upon a time, a public display like that would have had her blushing and running for cover. After the last couple of days with Tyler, though, all she could think about was sex. Tyler grabbing her, pulling her hair, forcing himself into her, thrusting hard…

  “For the sake of blending in, you should probably kiss me immediately,” she murmured into his ear.

  “Oh, the things I do for you. Any other requests?” She could hear the smirk in his voice.

  She pretended to consider for a moment. “Yes. There should be plenty of tongue. And you should get handsy.”

  He let out an exaggerated sigh. “Well, if you insist.”

  Then he was on top of her, unbuttoning her shirt with greedy, eager hands, thrusting her skirt up, sliding between her legs…

  Then he was on top of her, unbuttoning her shirt with greedy, eager hands, thrusting her skirt up, sliding between her legs…

  Gwenneth giggled – she actually giggled. It was completely out of character, and all the more so because she didn’t give a damn. There was something so freeing about the sexual openness of this little island paradise, and for a moment she felt sad that she couldn’t be here, with Tyler, simply as a woman with her lover – with her fated mate.

  But why shouldn’t she enjoy the moment, even if they had other things to worry about? With her dark ringlets, tan skin and bright-green contacts, she looked like another woman entirely. Why shouldn’t she act like a different woman too? Wild, wanton and impulsive…

  She wriggled out of his arms and pushed him back onto the bench, standing above him with her hand on his chest and narrowing her eyes wickedly at him as he let his hands roam over her body, spanning her waist, massaging her breasts, playing up underneath her skirt until she slapped them playfully away and wagged her finger at him.

  “Oh no,” she said, catching his wrist as he made another lunge for her. “I’m the one making the demands here, remember?”

  She got to her knees on the gravel path, fe
eling distinctly wicked and hungry for the hard length of his cock. She didn’t care who was watching – the thought made her feel feral and free.

  She ran her fingers over his rigid length where it pressed against the dark fabric of his formal suit, and gave a low laugh when it twitched beneath her hand. She undid his fly and quickly slipped her fingers inside, wrapping her hand around the hot length of his cock and marvelling at the velvety-softness of the skin over the rock-hard shaft beneath. He throbbed in her palm and gave a heartfelt groan, allowing his head to fall back against the slats of the bench as she started to run her hand up and down, from his sac to the very tip of his dick where slick precum provided lubrication for her wandering fingers.

  She grinned up at him and he gazed back with heavy-lidded eyes that were clouded with lust. His lips were slightly parted and his broad, muscular chest rose and fell in a rhythm that wasn’t quite steady.

  She worked him harder, watching his face as she pumped his shaft, then lowered her head and kissed the tip of his cock before flicking out her tongue to scoop up the bead of precum that glistened, trembling, on his glans.

  He rolled his hips, pressing the head of his cock against her lips, and she parted for him, swirling her tongue around his head before taking him farther inside. He groaned again and she sucked harder, pushing her lips down his shaft, then hollowing her cheeks as she withdrew to increase the friction against the sensitive flesh.

  She moved back down again, not stopping until her lips were nestled against the crisp curls of his pubic hair and the head of his cock was hitting the back of her throat. Then she swallowed hard, again and again, allowing the motion to massage him. He trembled beneath her and she knew he was aching to fuck her mouth but holding back with incredible self-restraint to keep from making her choke.

  She could feel moisture pooling between her thighs and she wanted to touch herself, but she didn’t. This wasn’t how she wanted either of them to get off. As delicious as he tasted and as intoxicating as it was to drive him out of his mind with her mouth, she wanted him inside her. She wanted to ride him right there on the bench in the humid open air, not caring who might see them.

  She pulled back, releasing him from her mouth with a little pop, and started to move back up his body, unbuttoning his crisp white shirt and running her hand over his flat belly and strong, broad chest. She couldn’t keep her hands off him.

  She whipped off her panties and stuffed them quickly into his jacket pocket, then straddled him, the warm, fragrant air feeling exotic and wicked on the damp flesh of her pussy.

  Tyler kissed her deeply, their tongues duelling and their breath clashing as they fought to get even closer. It was wild and unrestrained, and it was all she could do to hold herself back as Tyler slid a condom on then returned to plunder her mouth again, groaning softly and running his hands over her back and buttocks to press her against him.

  She worked her hips, her moist lips sliding against his sheathed length and causing them both to gasp and clutch at each other. Then she took his twitching member in her hand again and positioned the head against her slick, aching entrance.

  They moaned in unison as she sank down onto him, his entrance smooth and easy because of the slick excitement trickling from her depths at the thought of how brazen their act of exhibitionism was. She clenched around him in helpless spasms as she withdrew to plunge back down onto his hard, pulsing length.

  He grasped her hips in his large, strong hands, helping her to find her rhythm, burying his face against her neck. He licked at the sensitive flesh, bit her gently. The gentle breeze, warm and fragrant with the scent of blossoms, stirred the damp hair at her temples, and the air was alive with the chirruping of insects and the moans and cries of passion from other couples having sex in the park, their only privacy their total absorption in their partners.

  Gwenneth moved faster as passion rose inside her, washing through her in thrilling waves that ebbed and flowed as she moved above him. Tyler moaned desperately, closing his eyes and parting his lips, shuddering as his excitement began to crest.

  Then he was pumping into her in a sweet counterpoint to the rhythmic rolling of her hips and she cried out, coming hard around his pistoning cock as he matched his pace to hers and spasmed inside her with a desperate shout of pleasure that echoed through the sultry air of the park.

  Gwenneth heard laughter and brief, playful scattered applause, and she rested her forehead against Tyler’s and smiled into his eyes as the breeze cooled the sweat on their hot, damp skin.

  Chapter Fifteen

  He lay on top of her, breathing hard. Their limbs were tangled together, their clothing in a heap next to the park bench. A sheen of sweat covered her body, but gentle breezes swept through the trees, cooling her.

  “That was amazing,” she moaned into his ear.

  “I know. I am pretty incredible.”

  For that, he earned a smack to the side of the head.

  “You arrogant dick.” But she was laughing as she said it.

  Tyler shook his head in protest, grinning at her. “No, no, as you’ll find, I’m just extremely honest and always right.”

  “As I’ll find?”

  “You know. When you come back to Playa Linda and move in with me. You’ve been running for too long. You need a place to call home. You need your name back. Until you change your last name to mine. Gwenneth Witlocke. I like it, don’t you?” He stroked her hair, gazing down into her eyes.

  She looked up at him, hesitant.

  “Isn’t that what you want?” There was a hint of alarm in his voice.

  “More than anything,” she said, and she felt him relax again.

  “But there’s so much…stuff that hasn’t been resolved yet. We don’t know what’s happening with my sister. The Shadow Lord wants to kill me. Somebody betrayed Les Abandonnes, and I don’t know who. And those kids in the shanty town…it may be the death of me, but I can’t just leave them here like this, Tyler, even if all the island police are looking for me.”

  His expression turned serious and he ran his thumb along her cheek, sending a sizzle of desire through her veins. “And that’s why I love you.”

  She jerked with shock. “You what?”

  Instead of answering, he suddenly stiffened, then shoved her off the bench onto the ground. She landed with a painful thud, and he landed on top of her. As he did, something clanged against the bench and she smelled silver. A knife lay on the park pathway.

  She and Tyler leaped to their feet to see Corran stalking towards them, his face contorted with rage. Tyler let out a growl and jumped in front of her. Corran had a silver knife clenched in his right hand. He must have brought his entire collection.

  “Corran! What the hell!” she said in a low, urgent voice, not wanting to attract attention. She glanced around frantically. The lovemaking lions were no longer on their bench, and no police or soldiers were in sight; they were alone, for the moment at least.

  The two men began circling each other. Tyler partially shifted, his snout shooting out, fangs curving down.

  “You think you scare me?” Corran snarled. “Smell my silver, wolf-boy.”

  “Stop it, Corran!” she cried. “Whatever your problem is, leave him out of it.”

  He ignored her, jabbing forward with his right arm and aiming at Tyler’s midsection. Tyler just barely managed to dodge him.

  She rushed forward and leaped in front of Tyler just as Corran jabbed again. Tyler grabbed her and pulled her back, but the knife came so close to her that it brushed against her ribcage. She felt her skin tingle and burn from the nearness of the silver, and she let out a yelp of pain.

  Corran instantly dropped the knife and rushed towards her. “Are you all right?” he cried.

  Tyler leaped in front of her, growling. “Get the hell away from her before I take your head off!”

  “Am I all right? You just tried to kill me, you crazy bastard!” she hissed at him.

  “Not you – him! I would never hurt y
ou, Rhonny, no matter how much you’ve hurt me. I came here to warn you. But then I saw you with him, and I just couldn’t…” He sank to the ground and knelt there. “How could you pick him over me?” His voice was racked with grief.

  “Hey, Limey! Warn her about what?” Tyler demanded.

  Corran looked up and raked him with a glare of utter loathing. Then he turned his attention back to Gwenneth. “Nadette got taken into custody and she sold us out to save her hide. She told the cops about the rendezvous. They’ve already got undercovers here.”

  Then Corran looked at Gwenneth strangely, staring at a spot on her thigh. Remembering that she was naked, she quickly grabbed her clothes and began pulling them on.

  “Where’s your tattoo?” he demanded as she stepped into her skirt. “Rhonny? Where’s the scar on your stomach? Where’s your mole?”

  Then his jaw fell open in shock. “Bloody hell,” he said, peering at her closely, looking her over from head to toe. “It’s Gwenneth.” He glared at her. “What the hell are you playing at? Why did you pretend to be your sister? Where is she?”

  “We can discuss this later. We all need to leave the park, now, before the soldiers get here,” Tyler said, keeping his tone low and calm. “Corran, meet us at the Blessed Lotus Blossom coffee shop in half an hour, and if you try anything again, I will rip your throat out. Gwenneth, you go first, and I’ll be watching you.”

  * * *

  “Here’s your coffee, jackass.” Gwenneth shoved the mug into Corran’s hand and sat down in the café chair next to Tyler. “Oh, did I spill some on you? Sorry. Idiot.”

  Corran winced as the hot coffee splashed him, and quickly wiped his hand off with a napkin. “I’m sorry I tried to kill you,” he said to Tyler. “I thought you were shagging my Rhonny.” Corran’s tone was conciliatory; Tyler just shot him a look of contempt and sipped his tea. All the mugs were shaped like Gu-Ra, with big pregnant bellies and a jaguar-tail handle.

  “Talk,” Gwenneth snapped at him. “When was the last time you saw my sister? Why did you break up?”

  “I haven’t seen her in months now. Close to a year. Rhonwen wanted to quit, and I didn’t, and she broke it off with me. But then she ended up staying in the game after all that. I thought maybe she was just looking for an excuse to get rid of me.” His expression was woebegone.