by Unknown
The heated water felt just right as he carried her into the Jacuzzi tub he’d filled with bubbles just for her. Vanilla and cinnamon wafted around them as he sank into the seat at the end of the tub, not to mention Lara’s own scent, which seemed to be stronger in her partial feline form.
Feline. He’d never expected this but now that he thought about it, she’d shown more than a few subtle signs.
When he flipped the switch on the jets the water roiled and bubbled around them.
“Oh, Kane, that feels so good.” She slid from his lap, dunked underneath the water, and resurfaced slick and soapy, a look that did little to dissuade his thickening erection.
“I thought you might like it. You’ve had a tough day.”
She barked a laugh at him. “A tough day? Are you kidding me?” She flashed her fur-covered hands at him. “I think I’d call this a little more than a tough day.”
“You know what I meant. I need you relaxed and open to my instruction.”
“Always gotta be the man in charge, don’t you?”
“Well, if you want I could just leave you here and let you try to figure it out on your own.” He pushed against the ledge and started to haul himself up.
“Jesus, Kane, don’t be so uptight. I was just kidding. You know, trying to lighten the mood.”
“You want to lighten the mood? How’s this?” He grabbed a naked breast and tweaked the nipple until she squealed.
“Oww.” She slid backwards into the seat at the opposite end of the tub and swished her arms and hands through the bubbles. “Why am I like this, Kane? Is this from the mating?”
“I thought that at first, but I don’t think so, babe.”
“At least you aren’t calling me sugar anymore.”
“I think we’ve moved beyond that now, don’t you think?” She stared at him for a while, amazed at how far he’d gone to help her since he’d found her. She had killed one of his kind, his friend, with little to no understanding about what had happened. His friend. Yet, he seemed far more concerned about her. No one had ever done that for her and she didn’t know what to do with that.
“At least the claws retracted.”
“I’m surprised they stayed out as long as they did. They don’t generally pop out and stay out. They require you to flex your forearms or, in the case of a fully shifted cougar, the muscles of their forelegs and then immediately retract when you are no longer flexing.”
She lifted her hand from the water to look at it; her nails looked short and trim just as before. There was no sign of broken skin or trauma at all. “Why did mine stay out?”
“Hon, I have never seen anyone go through a partial shift like you did. More than likely you went into shock. Your body was so tense I could hear your racing heartbeat and rushing blood. It scared me.”
What a remarkable thing, her big strong mate who was the deadliest predator in the mountains of North Carolina, and he had been scared for her. “Sitting here looking at the fur and the big teeth is scaring me. What am I now? Am I going to turn into a cat? Will I ever be human again?”
“I don’t have all the answers, this is new to me, but I do have a theory.” He hesitated before going on. “What do you know about your father?”
Her head snapped back at his statement, she hadn’t been expecting that at all. “My father? Why?”
“I don’t think this change came from our mating. There is no precedent for mating to alter DNA that much. Lucas mated with a non-shifter and nothing like this happened. He wasn’t the first to mate outside the clan, but it has been decades since anything like that has happened and there are stories...legends actually.”
She had a feeling where he was headed, but waited for him to tell her. She wasn’t sure she could wrap her brain around what he wanted to say.
“As a young boy I heard stories, fairy tales I thought, about what happened one time when a shapeshifter left the clan for the woman he loved. They married and moved to an isolated area of the country, but there was news brought in occasionally and one day an announcement of a birth. As you can imagine—or maybe not—this was not welcome news. The council wanted to send a death enforcer, my grandfather to be exact, to take care of the problem.”
Lulled by his voice and the need to touch him, she eased her way into his lap. When she snuggled her head against his chest she was rewarded with a soft purr, a sound she would never get tired of.
“So, what happened?”
“My grandfather refused, causing a huge rift between our family and the clan council that lasted through the decades.”
“But what about the baby?”
“There were rumors that he was born half human and half cougar, unable to shift fully to one or the other.”
She sat up in shock. “You think I’m going to be stuck like this? Is that what you are telling me?”
“Whoa, calm down. That’s not what I’m saying at all. Every shifter who reaches transformation has to be taught how to shift. It takes a lot of concentration and practice before it becomes second nature.”
“Kane, I don’t want to be like this forever.” Shivers raced across her skin as her entire body shook in the fear of never being able to go in public again.
“Then let’s get you shifted.” He pushed her gently off his lap. “Take a seat and get comfortable. In order for this to work you’ve got to slow your heart rate again and relax.”
Despite the tension she felt she sat back and did her best to relax, taking in as much air as she could, holding it briefly and then exhaling on a nice slow count.
“Close your eyes and concentrate. Try counting backwards from twenty while picturing your normal appearance.”
She started counting. Ten...and thought about running...nine...long black hair...eight...the smooth skin of her stomach slicked with sweat when she did her sit ups...seven...six...five...four...three...Kane’s tongue stroking bare flesh from her toes to her neck...two...kissing and biting her mates neck...one.
She slowly opened her eyes to Kane’s wide grin and sparkling eyes. She looked down at her arm and saw her furless skin back. She laughed and leapt into his arms. “Thank you.” She pressed her lips to his open mouth and he grabbed her on a snarl before plunging his tongue inside her mouth, twirling and touching everywhere. She sighed against him so glad to be normal again and in the arms of the man she loved.
When his cock bulged against her belly, she pulled herself away. He had saved her, cared for her, and now loved her, and she wanted nothing more than to return some of that. “I want to taste you.”
“What do you think you’ve been doing?”
“Smart ass. That’s not what I meant and you know it.” She watched him stare at her, looking for something she didn’t know. Finally he pulled himself from the water and sat on the ledge of the tub so she could kneel on the seat he’d occupied and have her way.
Looking at the swollen crown and thick shaft, she licked her lips in anticipation. She settled in place between his legs and wrapped her hand around his length, stroking the veins that ran along the underside.
Her lips parted as she dipped down, opening for her mate’s cock. Her tongue curled around the head of him, licking him over and over. God, he tastes like the outdoors and sunshine, glorious warm sunshine.
His dick twitched and he groaned long and loud. “Jesus, Lara, how am I supposed to last when you touch me like that?”
She smiled around him and continued to explore, taking a little bit more inside her mouth as she went. Her pussy creamed in excitement, preparing her for what would come later. The thought of him entering her in one smooth move to the hilt made her suck harder until he cried out. She licked the length as she moved up and down and suckled, her own body aching to be filled. Every snarl and grunt Kane made vibrated against her clit, driving her mad with need.
He seemed to grow larger with each new pulse until he stretched her mouth impossibly. When his hands threaded through her hair and pulled her farther onto his cock, she moaned a
round him. His hips bucked, forcing the tip to the back of her throat, and her skin burned from the force of which he held her hair. God, she loved this feeling. If she could just...
With her free hand, she reached for her clit, circling through the slick folds before rubbing against the hard nub begging for attention.
“Not yet, baby.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her hand away from her pussy. She whined around his cock, protesting his actions. “Aww, don’t worry, you’re going to get your reward, but the longer you wait the sweeter it’ll be.”
She sucked harder in response, loving the way he seemed to grow the closer he got to his own orgasm. She wanted to make him come, hear him moan her name until the wild wicked taste of him exploded on her tongue.
She flickered her tongue around the flesh fast and furious until a hard growl emanated from him, igniting her own fiery lust as both his hands fisted her hair and his hips pushed forward, fucking her mouth. When she thought she wouldn’t be able to stand another second, he pushed her off of him and lifted her into his arms as he stormed from the bathroom.
In front of the bed she expected he would place her there and make crazy mad love to her until she screamed and begged him to stop. Or, at least that’s what I’m hoping for.
But he surprised her by putting her on all fours in front of the fireplace, the plush rug cushioning her knees. Her breath caught in her throat as her empty sex ached for him to hurry up. He shifted quickly behind her and slid home. Her vision blurred as he stretched and filled her and she gave up even trying to regain a normal breath. Oh, yes, so good.
“Mine.” The word rumbled from him and she felt the meaning of that possession in every fiber of her body. He pumped behind her, working in and out of her in quick, short thrusts. She clenched the fur below her by the handfuls on a low, long wail of pleasure as he hit new sensitive spots with every move.
“This is what I needed, Lara, to be buried deep into your burning flesh. We need this to survive.” He dug deeper, driving her mad as her release grew closer but not quite there. “I can’t live without you, baby, but more importantly I don’t want to.”
He tilted his hips, pressing against the one spot he knew would push her over the edge. As lights burst in her head and passion engulfed her, she screamed so loud and so long she thought the windows might have rattled.
It didn’t end, with each continued stroke he drew out the soul- destroying ecstasy she felt. When she thought she might recover, he hit another new spot that threw her over the edge again as tremor after tremor of pleasure rocketed through her until she thought she might die from too much.
“Come on, baby, milk me, make me come.”
His hands squeezed the globes of her ass before coming down and covering her back with his own. Perspiration ran between them as he growled low and deep once again. His pointed teeth nibbled on her neck as he changed his strokes, making them hard and deep. When his teeth pierced her mate mark everything within and around her imploded, resulting in a complete and total loss of control. She was his and he was hers, their joining more complete than ever before.
With a final thrust behind her, his release jetted hot and thick inside her, his cock pulsing and throbbing. Never again would she have to be alone with no one to trust or care for. Their need for each other so strong and pure, they would spend the rest of their lives loving, desiring and fighting with each other.
Chapter Seventeen
Kane woke hours later with Lara curled in his arms, still lying together in front of a roaring fire. His hands stroked down her fire-heated back as he remembered how many times and ways they’d made love over the last few hours. A soft snore sounded against his neck and he chuckled. How he loved all the little sexy noises she made, even in her sleep.
He looked out the window and noticed the slight change in the darkness. Dawn would be here soon. He needed to get up and take care of a few things, but not yet. First he needed to spend some more time with his mate. He lifted her in his arms and carried her to the bed, nibbling her jaw and lips as he went.
“Don’t tell me you’re not sleepy.” Her drowsy voice sounded soft and sexy, another sound she could make that got him hard and ready. Not that he needed much of an excuse. A look, her scent, anything about her, really.
“Did I wear you out, baby? Can’t take anymore?” He bit at her lips, sucking the lower half into his mouth.
She pulled away. “I can take anything you’re willing to dish out, Kane, and then some.”
“Ohh, cocky in your sleep, aren’t you? Well, we shall see about that. I can’t wait to find your limit and when I do, I’ll push you past it.”
“Promises, promises.”
He shut her up with a kiss—the hard, urgent kind that had his tongue darting in and out—fucking her mouth like he’d been fucking her pussy all night long. He rolled on top of her, pushing between her thighs and entering her slowly, one inch at a time, reveling in the tight warmth surrounding him.
“You’re going to be nothing but trouble, aren’t you?”
***
In a surly but somewhat satisfied mood, Kane walked back into their bedroom to find Lara staring out the skylight. Her black hair fanned out underneath her head and her face seemed to glow with an ethereal beauty far more precious than before. Whatever the change, it agreed with her, and she looked even more bitable in the light of day than she did at night.
“Anything interesting out there?”
“Not as interesting as you.” Her head turned and a heated glow in her eyes swept over him.
As tempted as he was to join her again in the bed, they needed to talk and he knew horizontal wasn’t the way to do this.
“The cougar you killed yesterday was in fact Nick Smith, my childhood friend and the one man I thought I could trust my life with.” He dropped into the chair at the foot of the bed and roughly pushed his hands through his hair before scrubbing them down over his face.
“I’m sorry.” Her simple, quiet apology seemed heartfelt despite what Nick had planned to do to her. He’d been inside his friend’s house this morning and seen first hand his obsession with Lara, and if he hadn’t already been dead, Kane would have hunted him down and ripped his heart out himself. The black rage had swept through him unlike anything else before and damn near brought him to his knees.
“As much as it’s not necessary for you to say that, thank you.”
“He was your friend at some point; he must have been a very good man to deserve that.” She wrapped herself in the sheet and sat back against the headboard, never taking her gaze from his.
“I love you, Lara.” Her eyes widened in shock and her lush mouth parted slightly. He’d taken her by surprise. I like that.
“I—I—”
“You don’t have to say anything. I just wanted you to know. Our mating was my fault and will likely cause problems for us both, but it’s more than just science or nature that made me do it.”
She nodded, trying to hide the tears trickling from her eyes, but he caught them before she could. Blood surged through his veins and the instinct to hold her, protect her, rode him hard once again. But they had to get through this and then let things fall where they had to.
“I’ve spoken to the council this morning, the charges for attempting to kill my family have been dropped.”
“What?”
“The evidence against your mother, including many falsified statements, were found in Nick’s residence last night. The council has judged that your mother’s death may have been a grave mistake. One that can’t be fixed or made up for. However, due to that, the laws of our clan do allow you justice. The Enforcer who carried out the order was my father, and since he is deceased your justice has to be served against the next Enforcer. Which, until last month, would have been Lucas, which gives you full justification in your actions.
“But—”
“Let me finish. I have to say it and then you can decide for yourself what you want.”
“I know—�
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“No! I have to say it.” He didn’t care how sweet she looked in his bed or how much he craved her. She had rights and he was damn sure not going to fuck this up, too.
“Lucas has been shunned, at least for now, which makes me the Enforcer. So your rights now extend to me and only me. You can challenge me and I have to accept. It’s your right in our clan, and I believe in that right.”
“Kane, please don’t do this.”
“You have to know this.”
“I already do.” He sat in stunned silence, thinking, how could she know?
“I know what you’re thinking and I know you’ll figure it out, but let me save you the time and tell you. I know about the rules because of Malcolm.”
That was it, the other shoe had dropped.
Unbidden, a growl sounded in his chest. He didn’t want a reminder of her relationship with Malcolm, not now. It was far too dangerous for his brother, especially now.
“Stop, Kane. Without that knowledge, you would have never gotten me back here so easily.” She grabbed the sheet and walked from his bed, kneeling down in front of him. “So many things have changed since I enlisted Malcolm’s help. I wasn’t honest with him and for a while wasn’t open to you. But damn, look how far things have come in such a short time. Thanks to you, I see things clearly now. It’s hard to think about how much time I’ve wasted on hate and revenge.” Her hand reached out and touched his leg and the connection between them sizzled.
“I don’t want to live like that anymore. The truth is what I seek. I’m a contrary, stubborn woman who likes things her own way, but Kane, for you—no for us—I want to try and put that part of me in the past.”
He didn’t know what to say. He felt the truth of her words to his core, knew for certain she would try. He doubted she was about to become a sweet little housewife, but he had a feeling he could at least tame her or die trying. Didn’t sound like a bad way to go.
“So it’s settled then?” He smiled at her question. “Yeah, for now.”
