by Amanda Jones
“That’s what happened on the night you were attacked. But I didn’t get there fast enough! You were so seriously injured and I felt awful. If only I had gotten there in time,” he said, his voice filled with self-loathing.
“No, Jonathan,” I whispered but it was as if he couldn’t hear me.
“I needed to take care of you, to make sure you’d be okay. When you had nowhere to go, you had to come here. You just had to. But I never expected to fall in love with you. That was definitely not part of the plan,” he gave a sad laugh as he continued to stare down at the floor.
“My panther wanted to come out so many times with you but I forced it back. I was trying to wait for the right time to tell you. And now it’s too late,” he finished, his voice dull.
“Were you helping a woman tonight?” I whispered and he finally looked at me. He was so sad that my heart broke. He was trustworthy. I had jumped to the wrong conclusion without even letting him explain.
“Yes. My hearing and sense of smell is very good, much better than a human’s, and I heard a scream. So I went to help,” he said simply, and I realized it really was simple. He was helping people. He was a good man. And I loved him more than I thought possible.
“I’ll understand if you don’t want me anymore,” he said as he looked down again. “I know that it was ridiculous of me to want a life with you.” My heart started beating hard at his words. He wants a life with me. “In order to really be with me, a woman would have to go through a bonding ritual. It’s a little barbaric, really. No woman would ever want to go through with it. I don’t know what the fuck I was thinking.” He ran his hands through his hair, totally defeated. He looked up at me then.
“I want you to know that I truly do love you, Beth.” I thought about all he had said over the last minutes and I thought about my life without him and there wasn’t even a decision to be made.
“So what is this bonding ritual?” I asked softly and his eyes widened with hope. I smiled at him and he looked so astonished that I laughed.
“What? You don’t want to bond with me?” I teased him. He blinked and then he was on me, picking me up and sitting back down so I was on his lap.
“I love you so much,” he whispered into my neck as his arms wrapped tightly around me.
“I love you too, Jonathan,” I said and I knew that I could handle whatever was going to happen as long as we were together.
“So?” I prompted him.
“We have to exchange blood and it will hurt,” he said and I felt faint.
Chapter 13
JONATHAN:
I saw her face drain of color and was glad I was holding on to her. Maybe I should have eased her into it a little bit more.
“What do you mean?” she whispered so softly I barely heard her.
“I have…claws that come out. I would press them into my chest above my heart,” I pointed to my smooth skin, “and then I would press my claws into the same spot on your chest, breaking the skin so some of my blood mingled with yours. Then we would be bonded and we could never be separated. And we’d be able to have children,” I finished, figuring it was best to just get it all out at once.
“Would I become like you?” she asked in a surprisingly strong voice.
“No. But any children we had would be.” She absorbed that news silently as I waited and hoped beyond hope that I hadn’t fucked this up so much that she could never see her life with me.
“Do you really love me?” She asked, staring up into my eyes intently. She was thinking about it. I couldn’t hold back my hope.
“I love you more than I ever thought it possible to love someone. You’re funny and smart and so gorgeous. You’re my person,” I said as I ran my hands up and down her body.
“I’m your person,” she repeated, thinking that over.
“Yes,” I said simply.
“I love you, Jonathan. More than I ever thought possible to love someone. You’re my person,” she said. I held my breath. “I’ll do the bonding ritual with you because I can’t imagine my life without you,” she finished and I huffed out my breath, hugging her so hard that she squeaked.
“Let’s go,” I said, as I set her down and pulled her down the hallway to her bedroom. She laughed and jogged behind me.
I took her bathrobe off before I picked her up and placed her on the bed. I growled out loud and she laughed again. I stripped naked and lay on top of her.
“Are you ready?” I asked her.
“Always,” she answered. I slowly released my claws and she looked at them, fascinated. She even touched them.
I stared into her eyes and moved my hand to my chest, pushing my claws in hard enough that they broke the skin and drew blood. Little scars would be left in their wake.
I brought my hand to her chest and as gently as I could I pressed my claws into her chest while she held her breath. She whimpered softly as I broke her skin and I purred in response and rubbed my head into her neck.
“Oh,” she said as my blood mingled with hers, and I pulled my hand away. I kissed each puncture mark and then licked my lips, completing the ritual. We were bonded now and I had never felt such fulfillment in my life. I drew my claws back in and held Beth as tightly as possible.
“I love you. Please marry me,” I said against her breasts and she laughed.
“Of course I will, although even I can tell we’re bonded more now than we would be if we got married,” she replied, and her voice vibrated against my ear.
“I know. But I want everyone, human and panther, to know that you’re mine.”
“Oh, I’m yours alright,” she said as she spread her legs. Suddenly I was rock hard again. I slid into her and we both moaned. This was exactly where I was supposed to be.
“But if you want to declare to the world that I’m yours with a gigantic diamond ring, I won’t complain,” she said as I started to thrust into her.
“I just bet you won’t,” I said with a laugh as she lifted her hips. Then there was no longer any laughing, just growling as I made love to the sweetest, hottest, most perfect woman in the world.
The End.
To find other books by co-author Amanda Jones, please click here:
http://www.amazon.com/Amanda-Jones/e/B00UNJZB6G/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_2
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From Amanda Jones
The second book in this series,
The Panther Promise, will be on Amazon the week
of April 27, 2015.
To find all of the Amanda Jones books, please click here:
http://www.amazon.com/Amanda-Jones/e/B00UNJZB6G/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_2
To sign up for Amanda Jones’ newsletter, please click here:
http://eepurl.com/bgUltj
Thank you so much for reading, and please consider leaving a review! It really makes a difference.
