by Scarlet Day
But the damn itching would not stop! She reluctantly pulled away and scratched her arms. “Dammit! What the hell is wrong with me?”
Cash chuckled and wrapped his arms around her waist. “Kitty wants to come out to play.” He kissed her on the top of her head and then took her by the hand and pulled her toward the stairs.
“You mean—now?” Emma looked out the window. It was dark outside. She looked over at the clock on the microwave in the kitchen. It was 11:00 p.m.
“Shouldn’t we—I don’t know…wait till morning?” She knew that sounded ridiculous, but the thought of busting out in fur and fangs made her a little nervous. She wasn’t sure she was ready for this.
Chase chortled behind her. “Nervous much?”
She spun to look at him. “How did you—?”
“Know you were nervous?” Emma gaped at Chase as he finished her sentence. “We’re linked now, babe. We can feel your emotions.” He wagged his eyebrows at her.
Great, so there would be no hiding it if she was grumpy. Or anxious. Or horny. Not that she’d want to hide it from them when she was horny, though. Especially now that she knew what they were capable of when she was horny. The thought of what the four of them had done earlier sent all kinds of naughty thoughts running through her head. Without realizing what was happening, she ran right into the back of Cash, who had stopped midway up the stairs.
Cash slowly turned around and looked down at Emma, who was one step below him. His eyes were actually glowing, and rather than being startled by it, Emma was fascinated.
Leaning down over her, Cash came within inches of her face. “My beautiful little kitten, if you keep thinking like that we will never get off this boat.”
Emma tried to remember why that would be a bad thing. A maddening itch erupted across her abdomen.
Right. Dammit, dammit, dammit.
They made it into the dinghy without Emma distracting everyone again. The itching was getting worse by the second. It felt as though a billion ants had crawled under her skin and were desperately trying to crawl their way back out. Chase revved the engine as fast as it would go and had them skimming across the inky black water. By the time they made it to the beach, Emma was practically bouncing up and down in her seat, a strand of hair firmly clenched between her teeth.
As soon as the dinghy hit sand, Emma was ready. To hell with nervousness, she just needed the damn itching to stop! She leapt out of the dinghy, threw off the robe and—what? She realized she had no idea how to do this. Abby had made it look so easy. One minute she had been—well, Abby—and the next minute she had been replaced by a four-legged, black-furred impossibility.
Emma cast a desperate look to Cash and Chase, who were dragging the dinghy further up the beach to keep the tide from washing it out to sea. Cash looked up, caught Emma’s look, and dropped the dinghy.
“You can do this, Emma.” He moved to stand in front of her and put his hands on her shoulders. “Close your eyes and listen to my voice.”
She did.
“Now breathe. In and out, nice and slow.”
Breathing. Got it. She took several deep breaths, trying to relax.
“Now, look around inside your mind. Your cat is in there. You should be able to see her if you focus. She’ll be the impatient one pacing back and forth.”
Ha-ha. Emma looked. She cast her thoughts to the darkest corners of her mind, to the places she generally avoided for fear the boogeyman or some other childhood nightmare was lurking back there somewhere.
She gasped. There she was, just as Cash had said. She paced relentlessly, tracing and retracing her steps. Now that she was aware of the cat, Emma could actually feel her. She felt trapped. She wanted out. Now.
The cat looked up into Emma’s mind’s eye. With a fierce snarl, the cat hurled itself forward, into the forefront of Emma’s consciousness. Emma felt an intense tingling over her whole body, and then the image of the cat was gone.
The sudden disappearance of the cat startled Emma. Had she done something wrong? She opened her eyes. Everything looked—different. She looked around, trying to figure out what had changed. That’s when she realized she was looking at someone’s knees.
She looked up and saw Cash smiling down at her with a wide smile and a proud expression. “You’re gorgeous, Emma.”
Diego slowly walked over to her and knelt down. “My God, you really are. You’re magnificent.” The awe in his voice mirrored the look on his face.
Emma looked down. She had paws.
Holy crap! I’ve got paws!
Chase joined them and smiled, his eyes twinkling with mischief. “Yep, you’re beautiful. But I bet you’d rather run right now than sit here listening to compliments. Am I right?”
Run.
The thought came unbidden into her mind and raced through her consciousness.
Run.
She spun and launched herself up the beach. After only a few strides, searing pain shot through her head. She stumbled.
“Damn, Emma, give me some warning before you do that! I can keep up with you, but at least let me know you’re taking off.” Diego rubbed his hand along the fur on her cheek. “You okay?”
The pain receded much faster than it had the last time. Maybe being in panther form had its advantages. She felt Cash and Chase approach her from behind. Wait—she felt them?
“You can feel us and hear us in this form, Emma.”
Emma spun around just as Cash reached her. But it wasn’t Cash. At least, not in human form. Instead, a golden panther stood in front of her. He was amazing. He purred and moved next to her, rubbing his body against hers. His fur was heaven, soft and luxurious.
Her gaze moved to Chase, also in panther form. He was equally breathtaking. He rubbed his soft cheek against Emma’s, and she turned her face into his touch.
Someone cleared their throat. Emma spun to see Diego grinning down at the three of them. “Are we gonna have a kitty love fest, or are we gonna run?”
She heard Cash chuckle inside her head. “That’s entirely up to the lady.”
As much as she wanted them, Emma needed one thing more than anything else at that very moment. She needed to run.
She broadcast her intentions to them, making sure to give Diego a warning this time, and then darted up the beach. Her paws kicked up sand as her strides lengthened. Her legs pumped under her, and her muscles stretched out. It felt wonderful!
Emma had never been much of a runner, preferring the arts to sports. But as she ran, she felt like she would never be able to get enough of it. This body—her panther body—was made to run.
She heard footsteps behind her, matching her own. She glanced back and saw Diego on her flank, keeping pace with her.
“I’m with you, baby.” His voice showed no sign of stress or exhaustion, even though they were racing at breakneck speed. She felt something else following her, another presence, somehow familiar but disturbing. It was elusive, and she couldn’t focus on it, but she knew it wasn’t Diego she felt. She looked to either side and saw Cash on one side and Chase on the other, running about fifty feet from her. She could discern the feel of their individual minds, and they were also not the cause of her uneasiness.
“This island is only sparsely populated, but we’ll keep you steered in the right direction so we don’t end up near the village.” Cash raced ahead of her slightly and veered to the right, while sending the message for her to turn in that direction.
Chase pulled even with her. “Just let go, Emma. Feel the ground under your feet and listen to the sounds.”
She did. She put the uneasiness out of her mind. With Cash and Chase to guide her and knowing Diego was comfortingly right behind her, Emma handed her consciousness over to her cat. It was freedom, pure and simple.
She raced through the underbrush, her paws digging into to the sand beneath them. Small birds chirped as she ran past their nests or their nighttime resting places. Small animals scurried away as she bounded around palmetto stands and lea
pt over fallen palm trees. She saw every movement in the brush, every palm frond as it rustled in the breeze. It was the most exhilarating feeling in the world.
She wasn’t sure how long she ran. It could have been minutes or hours.
“God, you’re incredible.” She heard Chase’s awed thoughts as he kept pace with her.
She glanced sideways at Chase as they reemerged onto the beach. She slowed her pace and watched him run ahead of her. His golden fur ruffled in the gentle ocean breeze and glimmered under the moonlight. He stopped and then turned and walked back to her. He slid his furry face against her cheek, and she purred in response.
She wanted him. Now.
An intense tingle spread across her body. She looked down and realized she was no longer in panther form but was back in her human body kneeling on her hands and knees. Warm human hands gripped her waist from behind, just as Chase’s cock slid against her pussy. She shuddered and wiggled her ass at him, wanting him to take her. With one thrust, Chase entered her completely.
Emma cried out in pleasure and pushed back against him, wanting him to move. He did. In and out, his hard cock withdrew and thrust. He slammed against her again and again, driving her toward the release she craved. Other hands caressed her body and teased her sensitive nipples. She felt fingers part the soft folds of her pussy and slide along her clit, sending shudders throughout her body.
Chase thrust harder. Fingers flicked her clit. She raced toward her goal, and a blinding light exploded behind her eyes as spasms of pleasure ripped through her. Chase plunged into her one last time and cried his own release. Emma rocked back and forth on her hands and knees, riding the wave of ecstasy.
Both of them thoroughly spent, Chase withdrew from her, and she collapsed on the sand and rolled over onto her back. All three of her men sat around her, smiling down at her.
Emma giggled. “Um, wow. That was really sleazy of me.”
Cash laughed. “Get used to it, kitten. We like to watch almost as much as we like being inside you.”
Emma felt her cheeks heat up at his words. Her previous experience with men was nothing compared to the ride she was in for with these three men. This was going to be a lifetime of fun.
The four of them lay on the beach together, comfortable enough to make much conversation unnecessary. They just enjoyed being together. Emma dozed occasionally, but mostly she just watched the water roll gently onto the beach. As she lay there, the sky started to lighten on the horizon. She watched the colors of the sky and water change from black, to purple, to blue. It was an incredible show. She could see why Cash and Chase enjoyed spending so much time on these islands and out on the ocean.
A thought occurred to her. She wondered why she hadn’t thought of it before.
“Diego, you’re a vampire.”
Diego raised himself up on his elbow and looked at her with a wry grin from his reclined position at her feet. “So I’ve been told.”
Emma stuck her tongue out at him. “Well, don’t you have to, you know, drink blood?”
Diego’s eyes clouded over, and his expression darkened. “Not often. I can go for months without needing to feed. I should probably go ahead and find someone on this island, though, since I don’t know when I’ll have another chance.
Emma studied his face and listened to his emotions, now that she realized she could sense them. “You don’t like it.”
Diego shook his head. “No. It’s a very personal experience because of my psychic ability. I can normally control the direction of my gift, perceiving only the emotions I want to focus on. But when I feed, I’m overwhelmed with every emotion the person has ever had. Every fear, every sorrow.” He shuddered. “It’s…uncomfortable.”
“I bet.” Emma hadn’t thought it was that complicated.
“That’s not the only negative side effect, though.” Diego’s face turned even darker. “The act of feeding is a very intimate experience, which is why I prefer to choose females to feed from. During feeding, a brief connection is forged between my mind and the mind of the person I’m feeding from. It has had a tendency to make them attached to me in a…sexual way. It’s been inconvenient for someone who has preferred not to form attachments.” He focused on Emma, and his face brightened. “Until now, at least.”
Emma thought about what he’d said and felt a twinge of jealousy and possessiveness. Oh, hell no! She didn’t want anyone else getting attached to Diego, sexually or otherwise. She wanted him all to herself. An idea formed in her mind. “What about me?”
Diego narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean?”
“Well…we’re already…you know, attached. So why don’t you just feed from me? Problem solved.” She smiled at Diego expectantly, proud of her solution.
Diego, however, looked concerned. He shook his head. “Emma, I don’t know if that’s a good—”
Emma felt her temper rise, and she sat up. “Look. There is no way in hell I’m letting you do anything even remotely intimate with anyone but me! Got it?”
Chase chuckled, and Emma threw a glare at him. “You better let her have her way, Diego. You do not want to mess with a mad female cat.”
Diego still looked skeptical and hesitant, but Cash interjected with a compromise. “Why don’t you let her try it once? Cash and I will be there in case anything goes wrong.”
Diego’s gaze shifted from Cash, to Chase, and finally rested on Emma. “I hate being outnumbered.”
Cash laughed and got to his feet, dusting the sand off of him as he stood. “Then I have bad news for you, my new brother.” He grinned and tilted his head in Emma’s direction. “That one small female gets more votes in this relationship than all three of us combined.”
Chapter Nineteen
Diego had been putting it off for days. He had even thought about sneaking off alone to one of the many small islands they anchored at to see if he could find someone. But every time he thought about it, Emma knew his intentions. Their emotional link had grown stronger over the last few days. It meant that she felt his apprehension and his thoughts of evasion and she deduced what he was pondering. The resulting fits were not pretty.
Cash and Chase had warned him repeatedly that female cats were extraordinarily jealous. They were right. Diego was pretty sure, though, that Emma’s jealousy went beyond even the average she-cat variety. Her green-eyed monster was downright vicious. The things she had threatened to do to certain sensitive parts of his body if he tried to sneak away would make an ordinary man hide in a corner and cry to himself. Fortunately, he was no ordinary man. He’d be lying, however, if he denied wincing at the thought of some of her more graphic threats.
So now he was running out of time, excuses, and resolve. He was going to have to let Emma feed him, sooner or later. He really wasn’t worried about whether her blood would be compatible for him. He was fairly certain that wouldn’t be an issue. No, what worried him was what she would see when his mind was completely opened to her instead of just partially opened like it already was.
She would be able to discern so much more than just his emotions. His mind would be laid bare before her, allowing her to see into the darkest recesses of his consciousness, into the rooms he kept locked for his own sanity. Dark and terrible memories resided in those spaces. He didn’t want Emma exposed to things so heinous. He didn’t want to see the pain reflected in her eyes or feel it echoing through their link.
He had confided his struggle to Cash and Chase late one night after Emma had fallen asleep. He hadn’t told them the specifics of his memories, but he had given them enough information so that they understood his reluctance. They had been concerned, sympathetic, and supportive. They had embraced him as a brother. They had also told him he was fighting a losing battle, regardless of how badly he wanted to avoid Emma’s distress.
And so he had begun to resign himself to the inevitable, which was quickly approaching. He already felt his strength waning. Tiberius was still out there somewhere, and Diego needed to be on alert and at
his strongest if Tiberius somehow found them. Cash and Chase were convinced Tiberius wouldn’t have a clue where they had disappeared to and would be unable to track them. Diego was unconvinced, however. Tiberius had managed to find him many times in locations much more remote than the string of semi-inhabited islands they currently took harbor in.
“You’re brooding again.” Emma threw him a glance over the top of the paper she held in front of her. “But you’re also starting to waver.” She grinned knowingly at him.
Yep, he was screwed.
Diego watched her as she turned her concentration back to her crossword puzzle. She was curled up on the other end of the couch, chewing on the end of a pen. Diego thought it was funny that she refused to work on crosswords in pencil. She had informed him yesterday that pencils were for wimps. She had also managed to chew the caps off every pen on the yacht. He chalked it up to another one of her idiosyncrasies. He thought they were adorable.
Cash and Chase came down the stairs into the lounge. Diego felt their bad moods before he saw their faces. The bond that had been forged between the three men had only grown stronger since their first mating with Emma. “What’s wrong?”
Cash walked to the bar, poured a glass of whiskey, and downed it. Diego knew it wouldn’t have much effect on Cash, other than temporarily calming his nerves. Their panther metabolism burned through alcohol in a matter of minutes, much like his own.
Cash put the glass down and paced across the room. “We just got off the radio with Brad. The elders have never heard of anything that would cause the pain Emma feels when you’re too far away from her.” Cash threw a look at Chase, who shook his head slightly.
Emma put her crossword puzzle down and narrowed her eyes at the two men. “There’s more. What are you not telling us?”
Cash glanced at Chase again and then sighed heavily before focusing on Diego. “Someone is trolling the waters off Panther Key.”
Dread oozed through Diego. It was Tiberius. Or if not Tiberius, some of the henchmen he had created. And it hadn’t taken him long to become impatient with Diego. Had Tiberius somehow realized that Diego wasn’t following orders? Diego’s creator had always had an uncanny ability to know if Diego was trying to rebel against his instructions and to track him down. If Tiberius was near Panther Key, how much longer would it be before he found them?
