by Danica Avet
Monk’s mouth left hers to trail gnawing, hungry kisses down her neck. Buttons flew as his hands ripped open his dress shirt, baring her to his view. “You’re so fucking beautiful,” he whispered against the hollow of her throat.
Kitty loved hearing the hunger in his voice, loved the feel of his fangs as he scraped them down the center of her chest, but she didn’t have the patience for foreplay. She’d been wet before they even talked, her body hungering for him just from watching him walk. Her thighs were damp, her inner muscles tensing. The bear wanted their mate right this instant and was adamant she would get it. Her claws slashed out, tearing the pants from his body.
“No playing.” Kitty panted as she writhed beneath him. “Make love to me.”
He paused with his mouth a hairsbreadth away from her nipple and looked up at her, green eyes startled. That was when Kitty realized it was the first time she’d called what they did making love. For the last two weeks she’d demanded he fuck her, but never, ever had she demanded he make love to her. Until now.
“I need you inside me, Monk.” Desperation was clear in her voice and she didn’t care.
His cheeks flushed as his eyes burned jewel bright. “Anything for my Kitty-Cat.”
His body was all lethal grace as he knelt between her legs. His skin gleamed like polished gold in the light coming from the window. In that moment, he resembled a cougar made human and her breath caught in her throat in awe. He coasted his hands up her splayed thighs until he bracketed her pussy.
“Mine,” he purred, his thumbs brushing up and down the slick folds of her sex.
If he had said something along those lines earlier, she would have taken exception to it. Now though, she reached down to palm the hard length of his cock. “Mine,” she growled with a soft squeeze.
The muscles in his body tensed when she gripped him and his cock seemed to turn into steel when she squeezed, but he didn’t argue with her. Instead, he slid his hands around the backs of her thighs to open her wider, letting her guide his cock to her waiting slit.
“Put me inside you,” he ordered in a rough voice, his eyes on where they would soon be joined.
Kitty looked down as well, her body creaming at the sight of her hand on his ruddy shaft. She brought him closer until the proud crown brushed her pussy. Her breath hitched as he pressed forward, the bulbous head breaching her tight entrance. She couldn’t hold back a moan, her hand dropping away to grip the sheets as he continued sliding deeper inside her until his groin rested flush against her ass.
“Kitty-Cat,” he said on a groan, his hands tightened on her thighs.
She looked up, instantly caught by his bright gaze. His face was strained, the muscles in his neck standing out as though he held himself in careful check. Releasing her hold on the sheets, Kitty reached up to stroke his beautiful chest. His heart thudded fast and hard against her hand, the beat matching hers.
Wishing she could give him everything he wanted right now, but knowing it was too soon, Kitty gave him what she could. “I love you, Monk,” she told him in a voice gone husky from emotion and need.
His entire face lit up, making him look exactly like the young man she’d fallen in love with so many years before. “I love you too, baby.”
And he moved. Her claws punched through the tips of her fingers at the exquisite friction of his cock gliding out of her channel, digging into the meaty muscles of his pecs, but he didn’t seem to mind if the way he slammed back into her was any indication. Kitty gasped at the sharp bolt of pleasure that wound its way through her.
Monk kept a slow, methodical rhythm designed to drive her insane. She scrabbled at his hips, trying to pull him deeper, harder against her, but he resisted her urgings by sitting on his heels. It changed the angle of his thrusts. He made sure she felt every inch of his cock sliding in and out of her. Kitty gave up reaching for him and cupped her breasts, squeezing and plucking at her nipples in time with his thrusts.
“That’s my girl,” he rasped, his thrusts picking up speed and intensity, his cock slamming harder into her. “Roll them between your fingers, baby, get them nice and red.”
Kitty mewled, her head twisting on the pillow as he plundered her body and she tortured herself. Nearly overwhelming heat scorched her from the inside out, her inner muscles tensing in preparation for her orgasm. Her gasping moans and Monk’s rough breathing combined with the wet sounds of his cock tunneling into her, turning her on even more.
“Monk,” she panted in a pleading tone. “Please, baby.” He ground his hips against her, the head of his cock nudging her cervix. “Oh! Oh God, oh God, please, please!”
And like that, her mate snapped. He adjusted her legs until her calves rested against his shoulders and his hands were free to grip her hips. Then he slammed into her hard and fast, the new angle rubbing his cock against that magic spot inside her that burned her alive.
Kitty arched her back, her hands leaving her breasts to find Monk’s strong thighs, her claws digging into the muscles. The clap of their bodies meeting in a primal mating echoed throughout the room. She closed her eyes, the pleasure almost too much to bear, but a sharp nip to the inside of her leg had her blinking hazily at the man pounding into her.
“Keep your eyes on me, Kitty-Cat.” The deep, lethal tone made her womb clench. “I wanna see your face when your pussy clenches around me, wanna watch you fall apart as I come inside you.”
As usual, his explicit words, delivered in his sexy, Cajun accent sent her spiraling out of control. “Monk!” she screamed, her body bucking as her orgasm slammed into her like a tidal wave. She didn’t close her eyes, although it was a near thing.
And she was glad she hadn’t because she would have missed the look of pained bliss on his face when she tightened around him. His eyes flashed pale green for a moment, his cat making a brief appearance before he growled, low and deep, his hips ramming into hers.
“Mine,” he grunted with each sharp jab of his cock into her quaking pussy. “Mine, mine, mine, mine. My mate!”
His final word ended on a roar as his cock jerked inside her, his seed jetting into her in a hot, wet gush. Kitty moaned softly, Monk’s climax setting off another wave of spasms in her body as it eagerly accepted everything he had to give her.
With one last heave of his hips into hers, her mate seemed to go boneless, his impressive strength drained. Kitty was barely conscious, but she felt her legs slide off his shoulders to rest on either side of his body as he stretched out on top of her. He was a little heavy and sticky and she didn’t give a damn. She was wrapped in her mate’s scent and warmth, the way she loved.
Wiggling slightly to find a more comfortable position for them both that ended with his head pillowed on her breasts and his body resting along one side of hers, Kitty finally released a sigh of sheer happiness. There was still a lot for them to work through, but she wasn’t going to fight her instincts or her heart any longer. It wasn’t worth it, not when Monk gave her everything she needed.
Something buzzed in the back of her mind, trying to remind her of something important, but Monk had fucked—no, made love to her—so thoroughly that all she wanted was a little rest. Whatever it was could wait until she’d recovered from the mind-numbing orgasm her mate had given her.
* * * * *
Kitty woke up again, this time without an ache in her head. No, that particular sensation was much lower, especially in her thighs and pussy, but remembering how it’d gotten there made her lips curl in a small smile.
“What’s that smile for?” a lazy male voice asked somewhere over her head.
Squinting against the light, she saw Monk resting on his side, his sandy hair tousled around his head. His eyes were heavy-lidded and lazy from a climax-induced sleep, his chest marked with fading scratches. He’d never looked sexier than he did at that moment.
Kitty arched her back in a full-body stretch, delighting in the way his gaze trailed over her, pausing at her breasts and the juncture of her thighs. “That�
��s the smile of a very satisfied man,” she purred.
Slightly roughened fingers danced down the center of her chest to circle her navel. “You’re one incredibly sexy woman, Kitty Chambers.”
She grinned at him. “So are you.”
He studied her face with the satisfied smile of a male who knew he’d done a good job pleasuring his female before he dropped his gaze to follow the movement of his hand. He watched as his fingers kept up a leisurely exploration of her skin, meandering around her ribs to wander around her breast. She sucked in a breath when he lightly stroked her hardened nipple, but he didn’t linger there, his fingers skating up to her shoulder.
Because Kitty was watching his face, she saw the way his lips turned down at the corners when he touched the tattoo she’d gotten to cover his mark. Her heart ached at the sadness in his expression. She’d gotten the tattoo six months after leaving Maison Rouge and she’d never regretted it, until now.
She opened her mouth to say something, anything to take that look off his face, but her bear caught a whiff of a strange cat. She froze, her head snapping in the direction of the door seconds before a mechanism on the door clicked, followed by someone rapping on the door.
An unfamiliar male voice called through the thick wood, “If you two are finished in there, I have some clothes for you that I’m leaving at the door. C’mon out when you’re dressed.”
Monk sat up straight, his head swiveling around to stare at the door. “What the fuck?”
Kitty clutched the twisted sheet to her chest and sat up as well. “Who was that?”
He looked back at her, his eyes wide and disbelieving. “That was my dad.”
Her jaw dropped open in shock. “Your dad kidnapped us?”
A scowl forming on his face, Monk swung out of the bed and approached the door. He stopped short of his goal. “Wait a second, I smell—”
Someone else tapped on the door. “Kitty, honey, hurry up in there. You too, Monk.”
Kitty felt as if she’d fallen into Alice’s rabbit hole. “What the hell is my mom doing with your dad?”
Monk glanced over his shoulder. “It isn’t just her, your dad’s here too.”
“What?”
His lips thinned. “We won’t find out until we get out there.” He pulled open the door and peered out, dipping down to pick something off the floor before he slammed the door closed again. Turning around, he tossed the clothes on the bed. “I don’t know what the fuck’s going on, Kitty, but I think it’s time we found out.”
Sorting through the pile of clothes he’d dumped on the bed, Kitty grabbed a pair of sweats, pulling them on with more force than necessary. “Why would they do this? It doesn’t make any sense.”
Monk, dressing in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, grunted. “If I’m not mistaken, they probably got the idea from your aunt and uncle.”
Kitty paused in the process of finger-combing her hair. “What do you mean?”
He sighed and came over to her, grabbing her hand and pulling her onto the side of the bed. “When Daisy Lynn was being so stubborn about mating with Ram, your Uncle Thomas arrested her. Maybe your parents thought the same thing would work with us. As for my dad,” he ran a hand through his hair, “I have no idea why he’s involved, but chances are he’s the one who’s been following you. He was in Special Forces when he was younger. He could have come within feet of you without you seeing, or smelling him. I have no clue why he would want to.” His eyes glittered dangerously when he stood again, tugging her to her feet. “But I’m going to find out.”
Monk smelled outraged father as soon as he opened the door and knew Hunter Chambers was not a happy camper. Normally, Monk would go out of his way to be nice to a male he hoped would be his father-in-law one day, but that wasn’t happening now. Not after realizing one of the three in the other room had drugged Kitty. He didn’t care if they thought it was for her own good, it pissed him off.
Kitty was right beside him as they stepped out of their prison into a narrow hallway with closed doors on either side. The musky scent of cougar was more evident in the hall, mingled with grizzly and black bear, but the cat scent overwhelmed the bears. Monk even recognized the smells that belonged to his father’s extended family.
“This is your family’s camp,” Kitty said in a low whisper. “And you didn’t recognize it?”
A tide of heat flowed up his neck and he avoided her gaze. “I’ve never been here. I’m not overly fond of the water.”
“Oh. I forgot about that.”
He shot her a glance to see a frown on her face. “Yeah, well, since I never use it, my cousins do. I just can’t believe they cleaned that room we were in to the extent that we didn’t smell them in there. The fuckers must have been in on it.” He led the way down the hall, following the scent of their parents, which became stronger.
The hallway emptied into the living area where Walter Badeaux and Francine and Hunter Chambers sat on saggy, old furniture. It was beyond strange to see them sitting together, looking relaxed and normal. He hadn’t actually seen his dad in years and had to admit the time away from Maison Rouge seemed to have agreed with the older cougar. His hair was threaded with silver, but it didn’t detract from his youthful-looking face, a face Monk’s so strongly resembled.
Walter sat in a chair in the corner of the big room with the Chamberses sitting together on a sofa a few feet away. Francine looked pleased, Hunter looked pissed and Walter looked sheepish. Not exactly the reaction Monk was looking for in their parents.
Kitty dragged her feet, making him pull her a little farther in the room before she stopped completely. He scented her wariness and confusion because he felt the same, but his was heavily dosed with anger. “What’s going on?” He gripped Kitty’s hand tighter.
Hunter was the first to speak, a surprise since he usually had very little to say to anyone. “I sure as hell hope you’re planning to make an honest woman of my daughter this time,” he growled, his dark eyes flickering to light brown.
Francine slapped her mate’s leg and beamed. “I’m sure they’re making plans to take the next step.”
Monk wanted to yowl because he could feel Kitty’s body tense. She wasn’t ready to mate with him yet and he planned to give her plenty of time to get used to the idea, but if her parents pressured her— He didn’t even want to think what she’d do.
“That’s between me and Kitty,” he said as politely as he could. Hunter bared his teeth at Monk, the muscles between his shoulders becoming more pronounced. “Is that why you’re here?” he asked his father, looking the older cougar in the eye for the first time since stepping into the room. “To tell Kitty why we can’t mate? When we’re ready,” he tacked on as she stiffened even further.
He rubbed the inside of her wrist with his thumb, to calm her down, glad when she relaxed fractionally.
Walter cleared his throat and glanced at the Chamberses, who were glaring at him. He rubbed his hands on his legs a few times, the sound overly loud in the silent, tense room. “About that…”
“He was wrong,” Francine said flatly.
“You knew about this?” Kitty asked before Monk could, taking a step forward to face her parents. “You knew why Monk and I weren’t together anymore and you didn’t tell me?”
“Aw, cher, it wasn’t like that,” Francine said with a deep sigh.
Hunter sat forward, his dark eyes focused on his daughter. “Did you think we wouldn’t find out what happened, baby?”
Kitty’s grip on Monk’s hand tightened to the point of pain. “What?”
The grizzly’s gaze flickered over to Monk. “We knew what happened between you two the day after you broke up. You were…” His face twisted with pain for his daughter. “I’ve never seen you look like that, or hurt like that, baby girl. I never approved of you getting mixed up with a cat, but you loved him.” He shrugged, his deep-black hair glinting in the light. “But when he hurt you, when I found out what everyone was saying about you and why you were re
ally leaving, I planned to skin him alive.”
The way Hunter looked at Monk suggested he still wouldn’t mind fulfilling that fantasy, but Francine patted her mate’s knee. “We went to talk with Walter about it.”
All gazes swung to the old cat sitting in the corner, looking as if he wished he were anywhere but there. Monk saw shame in his father’s eyes and his heart pounded. “What did you do?”
Walter looked down at his feet. “I told them the same story I told you. Your mother did try to hurt you, Monk.” He grimaced and Monk felt a twinge of reluctant sympathy for the older cougar. “I was working twenty-hour days back then, trying to make ends meet at two jobs and your mama was with you all alone a lot. You were always so sick, which I never understood, but she took care of you, nursed you back each and every time.” His voice choked up. “I wouldn’t have known she was doing it to you if I hadn’t come home from work early one night. You were only ten months old. I could hear you crying from the driveway, but before I even got to the door, you stopped. When I stepped into the house, she had a pillow over your face.”
Kitty’s free hand gripped Monk’s arm, her fingernails digging deep. Monk barely felt it. His father had only told him his mother tried to kill him. He’d been too distressed and angry to listen to any details fifteen years before, but hearing his dad talk about it made everything seem so real.
“I fought with her,” Walter continued, his face ashen and older-looking than it’d been only moments before. “I knocked her out and checked on you. You were fine, thank God,” he said crossing himself. His lips trembled a second before he continued. “I called a friend of mine who lived in Mississippi and we arranged to have your mama moved. I didn’t call the police because I didn’t want either of us to become the center of attention in town. I didn’t tell anyone what happened, only that Carla was very sick. Even your grandmother didn’t know, but by then she was dying of the cancer as well. It seemed best for everyone involved if Carla just…disappeared.”
